Former INLA man Dessie O'Hare told gardai that he was employed by businessman Jim Mansfield Junior to evict an employee and his family from his home, the Special Criminal Court has heard.
Mr Justice Tony Hunt said that despite O'Hare's counsel having made "a thought-provoking" plea in mitigation on his behalf, a non-custodial sentence was an “unlikely outcome”.
O'Hare (62), of Slate Rock Road, Newtownhamilton, County Armagh, admitted last January to assaulting John Roche, causing him harm, at The Towers, Garter Lane, Saggart, County Dublin on June 9. 2015.
O'Hare, also know as the 'Border Fox,' also pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning Martin Byrne at Rathcoole and Saggart on the same date.
The non-jury court was asked to take two counts of falsely imprisoning Mr Byrne’s wife and son into consideration.
The court was told that Martin Byrne was employed by James Mansfield Senior for almost twenty years and provided a security-type arrangement for him and his extended family. A number of Mr Mansfield Snr's properties were in the process of or had been brought into NAMA by the time of his death, the court heard.
James Mansfield Junior had taken over the running of his father's business at this time and the portfolio of properties included a block of apartments called The Towers, which was close to Citywest. Mr Mansfield Jnr was having particular difficulty reacquiring control of of the apartments at The Towers, which was not under the control of NAMA and the subject of a dispute between him and other people.
The court heard that Mr Mansfield Jnr asked Mr Byrne to accompany him to a business meeting in May 2015 with a view to seeing if his interest in the tower block could be reacquired.
Mr Byrne felt "uncomfortable" with the nature of the proposed meeting but Mr Mansfield Jnr insisted he go with him to a business park, where they were met by O’Hare and Declan Duffy.
The court heard that Mr Byrne and his family lived in two units at The Towers during this time , which was owned by Mr Mansfield Jnr.
At a second meeting, Mr Byrne was told in “no uncertain terms” that he and his family had to vacate The Towers before he was brought to the courtyard of the building and placed into a car by the men. Mr Byrne pleaded with O’Hare to give him a couple of days to leave his home but the defendant refused and said: “Get out now”, before he was placed in a car.
When the cars arrived back at The Towers, John Roche refused to open the gate and he was assaulted by five men.
Three members of the Byrne family have since been placed in the Witness Protection Programme, the court heard.
O’Hare has four previous convictions which include possession of a firearm, which he received a five-year suspended sentence for at the Special Criminal Court in 1977.
O’Hare also received a six-month sentence for assaulting a guard in 1979 and began serving a nine-year sentence the same year for possession of a firearm.
In 1988, O'Hare was sentenced to 40 years imprisonment for two offences. As a result of the Good Friday Agreement, he was released from that sentence in October 2008.
O’Hare was remanded into custody until April 11, when he will be sentenced.