ThESE are the three women who helped to destroy the infamous McCarthy-Dundon gang enjoying themselves at a gay pride festival.
'Our hearts are broken'
Weevils force recall of Dunnes Stores rice Royals should not be invited to Rising events, says Hanafin Alice Collins was joined by her daughters April and Lisa at the event in Limerick city last weekend, and the three looked like they did not have a care in the world as they happily posed for photos flanked by friends and family.
vengeful
Outside observers would have had no clue that the three smiling women are under constant watch by armed gardai in case they are attacked by vengeful associates of gangster brothers Wayne and John Dundon who are serving life sentences, partly because of the women's evidence.
The Dundon gang imploded in 2011 when Ger Dundon broke up from April Collins while he was serving a sentence after she began a relationship with convicted rapist Thomas O' Neill.
This led Wayne and John Dundon to issue death threats against her.
Fearing she was going to be murdered, she sought protection from the gardai and made a series of statements implicating Wayne and John Dundon in murder. Her decision prompted others, including family members, to do likewise.
Among them were Lisa Collins, April's sister; their brother Gareth; and Dundon's cousins Christopher McCarthy and Anthony McCarthy.
Wayne Dundon and his sidekick Nathan Killeen were convicted in July of the murder of innocent man Roy Collins in 2010.
Lisa Collins gave evidence that on the day of the murder Killeen said he was going up to the Steering Wheel pub to shoot Steve Collins.
After the murder, Lisa saw Killeen running with his accomplice James Dillon behind him while there were "guards all over the place".
The court heard that Killeen jumped over a wall while Dillon ran past her.
Lisa told the Special Criminal Court that the two men later came back to the house and changed their clothes, and she thought she put the clothes in the washing machine.
April's evidence against John Dundon resulted in him being found guilty of the murder of rugby player Shane Geoghegan who was shot dead by Dublin hitman Barry Doyle in November 2009 in a case of mistaken identity.
April was the chief state witness in the trial of John Dundon, during which she admitted witnessing him ordering the hit on the intended target, Dundon rival John McNamara, less than 48 hours before Shane Geoghegan's death.
trapped
Her sister, Lisa, corroborated her evidence. She too had been present during this discussion.
April Collins revealed that both Gerard and John Dundon had beaten her on occasion and that Gerard had once trapped her in Spain for months after taking her passport.
"I dread these people," she told the court at one point.
Lisa and April's mother Alice Collins also played her part in getting Wayne and John Dundon locked up when she told gardai about chilling threats the brothers made against her in 2010.
