A man who carried a hand gun for protection from a group of Eastern European criminals, who he claimed wanted him to join their crime organisation, was convicted and fined €750 and the forfeiture of the gun and ammunition was ordered at Claremorris District Court this week. Rytis Lukosevicius, 39 Ashford Court, Claremorris, pleaded guilty to the possession of the hand gun and the ammunition.
Garda Brendan Heneghan told the court that on July 25 2008, he arrested Lukosevicius on suspicion of drink driving, and while moving the car from a dangerous position on the road he found a hand gun in the driver’s door of the car. Inside the gun were three bullets and three rubber pellets. Garda Heneghan said that Lukosevicius gave four different interviews, in each of the first three he said he was involved in a fight with a group of Travellers and found the gun, but in the fourth interview he said that he got the gun from a Russian friend for protection.
Lukosevicius, through his solicitor, told the court that he had received threats on his life from a gang who wanted him to join their criminal organisation, and he had the gun for his own protection, but he could not tell the gardaí about these threats or the people making them.
Judge Mary Devins convicted and fined Lukosevicius €750 for possession of the unlicensed weapon and ordered its forfeiture and destruction along with the ammunition.
