Kevin Lunney has told the Special Criminal Court that a man who "scored" the letters QIH on his body with a blade told him he was doing it "so you remember why you are here".
The 52-year-old director of Quinn Industrial Holdings gave evidence today in the trial of four men who have pleaded not guilty to falsely imprisoning him and causing him harm on 17 September 2019.
He also said he was warned by his kidnappers that they "knew all about his daughter in her GAA top" and that they would come back if he and the other directors didn't resign.
He told the court that his daughter played GAA and he had been at an event with her in Fermanagh the previous weekend.
He also said he asked them not to cut off his fingers and not to kill him and told them he would do what they wanted.
Mr Lunney said he was told that he and three other directors were to resign and to "drop all charges and injunctions north and south" to which he agreed.
The company, himself and the other directors, he said, were involved in two defamation cases, one in Northern Ireland, one in the Republic.
"I personally had another injunction in Belfast against another individual" he also said. "There was an implication that I had done something wrong and that I had to resign, we had done damage to the business.
"I said a number of times 'yes I will and I’ll let the others know, just don’t kill me, I’ll do whatever you want’," he said.
He also said before he was told not to talk to the gardaí and, if they heard that he had, they would kill him.
'Badly beaten and no clothes on'
The man who found Mr Lunney lying in the ditch told the court that Mr Lunney was cut, badly beaten, with blood all over him and no clothes on.
Aaron Brady said he was working that evening and driving a tractor home at the crossroads at Cloggy Cross when he saw something in a ditch and came across Mr Lunney on the roadside.
"He was cut with blood all over him and you could tell he was talking," Mr Brady said.
He turned off the tractor and asked Mr Lunny what had happened.
Mr Lunny asked could he use his phone to ring someone and Mr Brady dialled the number for him.
He said a PSNI officer answered and Mr Brady told him he had found Mr Lunny on the side of the road.
The officer asked to speak to Mr Lunney.
Mr Brady said he also rang his mother who came down.
Another woman who also gave evidence today Celine Duignan came upon the scene and stopped.
She said she had previously worked for Quinn Direct, knew Kevin Lunney and said she knew he was involved "in the Quinn dispute".
Both Ms Duignan and Mrs Brady helped Mr Lunny and gave him pyjamas to cover himself.
Garda Patrick Lavin also told the court this afternoon that he called to Lynch's Gala shop in Killidoo and viewed CCTV footage of a man buying a bottle of bleach on the night of Mr Lunney was attacked and kidnapped.
The CCTV footage was shown to the court along with other footage of a white car driving along the roads.
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Account of abduction
Mr Lunney described in detail his abduction from his home and how he tried to get out of the boot of the car while he was driven to "a horse box" where he was beaten, cut and had bleach poured over him.
He said he fought with his attackers and tried to resist being abducted before he was bundled into the boot of a car and driven away from his home.
Mr Lunney said he was dazed when a car reversed into the laneway outside his home after he had arrived home from work but he saw two men running towards him in dark clothes and balaclavas. One was carrying two containers of clear liquid and had cable ties flapping around his arm, he said.
"I was pushed back in the seat, I was quite disorientated," he said.
The men arrived at the window, he said, but he locked the car doors. The driver's side window was smashed in while he was looking for his phone and fumbling for a number but said he wasn't able to do anything because of the stress of the situation.
He said they were grabbing at him, trying to restrain him and get the keys out of the ignition so he moved between the two front seats and into the back. A man got in, removed the headrest and came at him across the drivers seat so Mr Lunney pushed himself against the back seat and fought back.
"I kicked him in the shoulder and head and he was briefly pushed back," he said. "I grabbed his balaclava but it didn’t remove. I saw short light brown or blonde hair, stubble. He retreated to put the mask back on and continued to get at me."
He told the court a second man came in the side door at the back also seeking to restrain him. The other man took his phone, forcing it out of his hands and got him out of the car by which stage a third man had arrived.
He said he was searched, "they were all over my body" he said, they removed his wallet and the third man sliced his watch off his arm with a Stanley knife.
"We want to talk to you, get into that", he said he was told as a knife was held to his neck, and he saw an Audi car with the boot open in front of him with the front of the car pointing out of the lane.
Mr Lunney said he was told: "We want to talk to you, we’re not going to kill you, we want to talk to you."
He said he tried to fight but was pushed into the boot and the car took off at speed and took a left out of the laneway away from Derrylin.
He said the third man had a Dublin accent.
Mr Lunney said he was able to pull the carpet away from the opening mechanism and pulled hard at the metal string which broke. However, he said he felt for the latch and managed to open the boot while the car was going at speed.
He could hear shouting from inside the car "he’s opened the f…ing boot."
He tried to see where he was but said he could not figure it out. He also said he waved at traffic in the opposite direction but was not seen.
The boot was open for about 30 seconds he said, he put his left foot out to gauge how to jump but the sole of his shoe started to rip and he knew "it wouldn’t work", the car was going too fast.
He then said the back seat came down and a man crawled through from inside the car and held his right foot. "I couldn’t get out", he said.
His shoe fell off on the road and others came around when the car stopped and told him if he did not get back in they would kill him.
A Stanley knife was held to his neck and he was hit hard on the left side of his face, dazed and put back into the boot which was then closed.
The man remained inside the car holding his hands so he couldn’t use them, he said. He said he was asked several times if he had tracking devices or another phone to which he replied he didn’t.
The court heard he was told: "If you have any tracking devices we are going to kill you".
One of the men also told him to "stop looking out", he said.
He could hear the driver of the car on the phone to another person saying "Boss, this man has resisted and we had to hit him."
He said his face was very very sore and blood was running from his face to his arm. He was feeling quite dazed and uncomfortable and material was put over his head to stop him looking out.
'You know why you're here'
When the car stopped he heard the men say "he broke the f…ing boot", it took them a little time to open it before he was led to a "blue container" which he realised was "a horse box." "It was quite dirty" he said, with animal dung.
The court heard a man said to Mr Lunney: "You know why you’re here."
"No," he replied.
Mr Lunney told the court he was told: "You’re here because of Quinn Industrial Holdings and you’re going to resign and the other directors are going to resign."
"And you yourself are going to drop these charges north and south" Mr Lunney said he was told.
The company, himself and the other directors he said were involved two defamation cases, one in the North, one in the Republic.
"I personally had another injunction in Belfast against another individual" he also said. "There was an implication that I had done something wrong and that I had to resign, we had done damage to the business.
"I said a number of times 'yes I will and I'll let the others know, just don’t kill me, I’ll do whatever you want’," he said.
Mr Lunney said the directors were named and this was said a number of times so he agreed to resign and tell the other three.
He also said the same individual told him they had been watching him for six weeks, that they knew his daughter played GAA. He had been with her at an event in Fermanagh the previous weekend.
He also said his nails and fingers were scraped and cut with a blade and he was told they were just "cleaning" his hands. He said they also took his glasses and eye drops from his shirt, poured the drops on his hands, threw the bottle on the ground and said "that’s no use."
He was made kneel down and his hands were tied with cable ties. Two men left, one remained and when he asked him could he stand up because his knees were getting sore the man got annoyed, said no and tightened the cable ties until they cut into his skin and his hands grew numb.
The others came back and bleach was poured on his hands.
"I knew it was bleach," he said, "I could feel it burning my fingers, I could smell it was bleach."
"We’ll have to strip him," he said they said and took off his socks and shoes and cut his trousers off.
He said they cut the cable ties to take off the rest of his clothes, left him in his boxer shorts and poured bleach all over him. His face remained covered and they squirted bleach under the covering, he said.
He said he found it difficult to breathe. They rubbed bleach on him with a rag before giving it to him and telling him to do it.
Mr Lunney testified that one of the men then said: "We will let you go but we’ll have to rough you up,"
"Why?" he said he asked.
He told the court he was told: "We have to."
'All those cases'
He was told to hold out his right leg, he resisted, but received "a very hard blow" straight into the middle of the shins and thinks he cried out, the court heard.
He said he heard one man say "Did it snap?" and he replied "yes", but another said "no" and he was hit again and was conscious immediately that his leg had been broken. He was also hit another 12 to 20 times on his right side with the person saying "you’ll resign" with every blow.
He was then cut on the face with a Stanley knife "from ear to chin, right to left," he told the court.
"You’re resigning," he said he was told.
"Yes" he said he replied.
"All those cases" he said he was warned.
"Yes" he said he replied.
He subsequently required 26 stitches for facial injuries.
He then said a man said to him "And so you remember why you are here" and "you’re resigning" as he "quickly scored" the letters Q I H into his body, saying the letters as he did it from Mr Lunney’s chest down to his stomach.
He was then taken from the "horse box" and driven away in a van, he said. He said he heard one of the men say: "No, I’ve taken his word for it, he’s going to resign."
He said he was also warned that "you’re not going to the guards or talk to the guards, if you do, we’ll be back."
"If we hear that you’re talking to the Guards, we’ll kill you," Mr Lunney said he was told.
He said he was then put out on the side of a road with his head in a ditch and told not to look up or look back as the face covering was removed and the van drove off.
He said he was left seriously injured on the side of the road in Cavan. He said he couldn’t walk, he was only wearing boxer shorts, shivering violently and in severe pain. He said he pushed himself along the road on his side and tried to wave at two cars at a crossroads up ahead.
He said he got worried that nobody would come along to help when there was no other traffic and tried to push himself along the road to a light in a house a distance away. As he was pushing a tractor arrived and he managed to wave it down and the alarm was raised.
Four men who have been charged are 67-year-old Luke O'Reilly from Mullahoran Lower, Kilcogy in Co Cavan, 27-year-old Darren Redmond from Caledon Road in East Wall in Dublin and 40-year-old Alan O'Brien of Shelmalier Road also in East Wall in Dublin 1.
The fourth man cannot be named by order of the court as he is due to face trial on other, unrelated matters.
All four have pleaded not guilty.
