Alleged victim who was waterboarded and branded with letters 'RAT' refuses to give evidence

Eoin Reynolds

A man who told gardaí he was beaten with a breaker bar, waterboarded, threatened with rape and branded with the letters 'RAT' on his face, stomach and back while being held hostage in a shed at the back of a Dublin house has refused to give evidence before the Special Criminal Court.

Garnet Orange SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, opened the trial on Friday of four men before the three-judge, non-jury court, before calling the alleged victim, Barry Moore (34), to the witness stand.

Mr Moore had been brought into court by prison officers, having been arrested on Thursday on foot of a bench warrant after he previously failed to appear in court. When called, Mr Moore said: "I'm not giving evidence" and remained seated, looking at the ground, with his head in his left hand.

When Mr Moore repeatedly failed to get into the witness box, Mr Orange applied to the court to admit into evidence statements the alleged injured party made to gardaí in February and March of this year. The court will hear arguments on that application on Saturday.

On Friday, Mr Orange said he would tender Mr Moore for cross-examination by barristers for each of the accused. However, when he was again asked to enter the witness box, Mr Moore told the three judges: "I'm sorry to the three of you, but I am not giving any evidence in the trial ever. I'm finished with it. I apologise to the three of you."

In his opening speech, Mr Orange said the State alleges that brothers Jason Hennessy Jr (28) and Brandon Hennessy (22), as well as Kenneth Fitzsimons (45) and his son Dean Fitzsimons (25) assaulted Mr Moore in a shed at the back of Jason Hennessy Jr's home on Sheephill Avenue in Blanchardstown.

During the alleged assault, he said the group accused Mr Moore of giving information to people with whom the accused were "not friendly". He said they used a 'branding' object with the letters RAT on it, which they heated on a gas stove before using it to brand Mr Moore's face and body.

Det Gda Stuart Gleeson told Mr Orange that he met Mr Moore at James Connolly Memorial Hospital in Blanchardstown on February 13th this year, one day after the alleged assault.

Det Gda Gleeson said Mr Moore had visible injuries to his face, including burn marks with the letters 'RAT' on the left and right sides of his face and on his forehead. He had similar burn marks with the same lettering on his stomach and back, and his arm was in a sling.

He was "very distraught" and in serious pain, Det Gda Gleeson said, and when asked if he would make a formal complaint, he said he needed to speak to his father first.

Burns unit

Det Gda Gleeson met Mr Moore again later that day after he had been moved to the burns unit at St James' Hospital.

Mr Moore agreed to make a statement and told Det Gda Gleeson that he called to Jason Hennessy Jr's home in Sheephill Avenue in Blanchardstown on February 12th this year to buy a tracksuit.

He arrived at about 6.15pm and was brought into a shed at the back of the property where he met Devon and Jason Hennessy.

He said they chatted for about 15 minutes, during which time Brandon Hennessy and Ken Fitzsimons arrived. As Mr Moore was showing Ken Fitzsimons a photograph on his phone, he said Jason Hennessy Jr "smashed" the phone out of his hands and boxed him.

He said: "It was a punch to my jaw, I was stunned. I asked Jason, What did you do that for? I was after falling on the ground, and Devon jumped up and began to punch me in the head."

He said Jason Hennessy Jr struck him and shouted: "You know what this is about, I want the truth." Ken Fitzsimons, he said, went to the garden and came back with a 'breaker bar', which Mr Moore described as "five feet of solid steel". He said Ken Fitzsimons "walloped" him seven or eight times on the legs with the bar before striking his right arm, breaking it.

He said Jason Hennessy Jr told him to "tell us the truth" and asked what he, Mr Moore, had said to two named people. Mr Moore told them he hadn't seen the two people for more than a year and begged to be allowed to leave.

Brandon Hennessy, he said, "came in like a madman, screaming at me". He said Brandon said he had previously lied to Mr Moore when he told him that they [the Hennessys] didn't have bulletproof windows at the top of the house. He said Brandon told him: "I told you on purpose because I knew you would go back and tell the lads."

Mr Moore said Brandon took the breaker bar and struck him repeatedly over the body. Devon Hennessy, he said, told Brandon to stop because he would kill him. "If you don't like it, go out the back," Mr Moore alleged Brandon said to his brother.

Jason Hennessy Jr left and returned to the shed, he said, with a blue camping stove and a "cattle marker" with 'RAT' on it. He said Jason Hennessy Jr used the gas stove to heat the marker.

"I was pleading with all four of them to let me leave, but they wouldn't," he said. Mr Moore said Dean Fitzsimons then entered through the back door of the shed and said: "I've been waiting on you," before picking up the breaker bar and hitting Mr Moore. Ken Fitzsimons, he said, picked up an axe and struck him with the blunt side.

Dean Fitzsimons, he said, threatened to cut off his ears with a Stanley knife before "waterboarding" him using a towel and a bucket of water.

Mr Moore said: "I thought I was going to drown. I couldn't breathe. I thought I was going to be murdered." Mr Moore alleged that Dean took the towel away and, standing above him, told him to tell the truth or he would "leave in a body bag".

"I kept saying I knew nothing and begging, let me go," he said. Jason Hennessy Jr, he said, took the cattle marker and used it on his stomach first. Mr Moore said: "I was screaming, I never felt such pain before. I was pleading for mercy."

Stanley knife

Dean Fitzsimons, he said, put the Stanley knife to his ear, but Jason Hennessy Jr said, "not yet" and started beating Mr Moore before tying him up with a dog lead.

When he was tied, Mr Moore alleged they branded him on his back, and while Devon asked them to stop, they kept beating him. He said that Jason Hennessy Jr insisted that he would not be allowed to leave until telling the truth. Mr Moore said he told them: "I can't talk because I don't know anything."

He said Jason Hennessy Jr wanted to know who set him up at Costa Coffee and pressed the hot iron against his head before placing it back on the stove. Brandon and Dean, he said, held his arms while Jason Hennessy Jr branded him on the forehead, holding it for seven or eight seconds. "I was screaming with pain, pleading to let me go," Mr Moore said.

He said he heard Brandon saying they should pull down his tracksuit and "rape him with a stick" before Dean stood on his back and "danced" on his neck, choking him. Devon Hennessy, he said, asked them to let Mr Moore go.

Mr Moore said Dean "rammed" the iron into the right side of his head for seven or eight seconds before Jason Henessy Jr told him to get up and allowed him to leave. He recalled stumbling to his car and struggling to start the engine. He called to his father's house nearby and was taken to the hospital by ambulance.

He said: "I was kept against my will. I did not look for this. My face and body are destroyed. They held me hostage and beat me for over one hour. I thought I would die several times. I hope these markings are not permanent."

In a follow-up statement, Mr Moore said that during the assault, threats were made against other members of his family and to burn down his father's house. He said Dean Fitzsimons had threatened to get a gun and shoot him and he believed he would be capable of carrying out such a threat.

Jason Hennessy Jr and Brandon Hennessy, of Sheephill Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin 15, along with Kenneth Fitzsimons and Dean Fitzsimons, of Castlecurragh Vale, Mulhuddart, Dublin 15, are charged with false imprisonment, intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm, and with participating in or contributing to the activity of a criminal organisation by assaulting Mr Moore, causing him serious harm.

The offences are alleged to have happened on February 12th, 2025, at a house on Sheephill Avenue, Blanchardstown in Dublin 15.

Jason Hennessy Jr is further charged with threatening to damage property and producing a branding stamp to intimidate another person during a dispute or a fight on the same date and at the same location.

Brandon Hennessy is charged with producing a "steel breaker bar" in a manner likely to intimidate another person while committing or appearing to be about to commit an assault.

Dean Fitzsimons is charged with making a threat to kill or cause serious harm to the alleged victim and producing a metal branding stamp and a steel breaker bar.

Kenneth Fitzsimons is charged with producing a steel breaker bar and an axe during the course of a dispute or fight.

They each pleaded not guilty to all charges on Friday morning.

Devon Hennessy, of Edgewood Lawns, Corduff, Dublin 15 has previously pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning and assaulting Mr Moore for the purpose of enhancing the activities of a criminal gang. He is not part of the current trial.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Karen O'Connor, Judge Sarah Berkeley and Judge Fiona Lydon.