Verdicts in Kevin Lunney abduction trial due

Defence barristers have asked the court to consider direct acquittals

Verdicts in the trial of four men accused in relation to the kidnap of Quinn Industrial Holdings director Kevin Lunney are expected to be delivered today.

Luke O'Reilly (68) from Mullahoran Lower, Kilcogy; Darren Redmond (27) from Caledon Road, East Wall, Dublin; Alan O'Brien (40) of Shelmalier Road, East Wall; and a fourth accused, known as YZ (40), who cannot be named for legal reasons, will learn the outcome later today.

All four men deny abducting and assaulting Mr Lunney, who was abducted from outside his Co Fermanagh home later tortured across the Border at a site outside Ballinagh in September 17, 2019.

Justice Tony Hunt presided over the trial, which ran for several weeks, together with Judge Gerard Griffin and Judge David McHugh.

Defence barristers have asked the court to consider direct acquittals of each of the four men due to a lack of evidence.

During the trial the court viewed CCTV footage of various vehicles moving between Dublin and Cavan on the day of the offences, as well as the movements of certain individuals interacting with those same vehicles.

The court also heard how DNA samples were taken from a Renault Kangoo van the prosecution believes was used by Mr Lunney's attackers in the course of his kidnapping.

Mr Lunney himself told the court how he was bundled into the boot of a car near his home and driven to a container where he was threatened and told to resign as director of Quinn Industrial Holdings, now rebranded Mannok.

His abductors then cut him with a Stanley knife, carving the letters 'QIH' into his chest, stripping him to his boxer shorts and dousing him with bleach in a bid to foil any subsequent forensic investigation.

They also broke the businessman's leg with a wooden bat, before abandoning him on a country road at Drumcoghill where he was later discovered by a man driving a tractor.