An armed gang that held a Securicor employee and his family hostage knew terminology and work practices of the security firm, the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court has heard.
Paul Richardson told the jury that the raiders knew details about some of his work colleagues.
He said one of the raiders told him ‘six people were picked - you drew the short straw’.
Mr Richardson who, along with his wife and two teenage sons, was held hostage by the gang, told the court that ‘there was always a threat to his family’ during the ordeal.
He told the jury how he and his 17-year old-son were confronted by four armed men when they arrived back at the family home at Ashcroft in Raheny on the night of Sunday 13 March 2005.
The raiders were already holding Mr Richardson wife, Marie, and their 13-year-old son hostage in the house after forcing their way in earlier that night.
Paul Richardson said that when he and his older son entered the house there were two men standing in the hallway, both were wearing balaclavas, gloves and boiler suits.
One held a revolver, and the other held a machine gun.
‘The machine gun was about two feet long, the man holding it had one hand on the barrel and one on the trigger’, he told the court.
‘I screamed out 'what the hell are you doing here', and one man told us to 'get in' - it was an order’, he said.
Paul Richardson and his eldest son went into the sitting room where he saw his wife and other son being held by two more masked men.
He told the court how he and his wife and two boys were placed on a sofa and with guns pointed at them, a photograph of them with two of their captors was taken.
Threat to family
The raiders knew the licence plate number of the Securicor van he would normally drive, and he was told to go to work as normal next morning and await instructions on a mobile phone, he said.
The court was told one of the raiders asked if he wanted to see his family again.
After his wife and two sons were taken away by other members of the gang, Paul Richardson was told he was to go to work and instead of putting money into lockers in the Securicor van he was to place it in white bin-bags, which should be double-bagged.
He told the court that one of the raiders was with him in the house at all times and that included when he went to the bathroom at least 12 times.
The raiders knew he normally gave a lift to work to a fellow Securicor worker and that he was to do so next day and to ‘act normal’, he said.
‘I behaved normally to the best of my ability’, Mr. Richardson told the court.
He said that by the time he left for work, three of the raiders had left the house but one remained behind.
He told the trial he arrived for work at 6.55am and clocked-in as normal.
Mr Richardson is continuing his evidence this afternoon.
Five men with Dublin address have pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning the Richardsons and to stealing €2.28m.
The five men are: David Byrne (36) of Old Brazeel Way, Knocksedan, Swords; Niall Byrne (27), of Aughavanagh Road, Crumlin; Mark Farrelly (37), of Moatview Court, Priorswood; Christopher Corcoran (61), of Bayside Boulevard North, Sutton; and Jason Kavanagh (34), of Parslickstown Court, Ladyswell.
