The court was informed that at the centre of an incident leaving bullet holes in a Dublin flat was a man who made no effort to conceal his identity during the occurrence. Accused of recklessly discharging a firearm at a residential address within Mercer House flat complex in Dublin 2 on the morning of November 8th, 2023, is twenty-one-year-old Jordan Lapongo, a man with no fixed address in Dublin 15. He is also accused of unlawful possession of a firearm, disregarding whether any individual might have been hurt.
The defendant, a father of one, had his day in court in front of Judge Paula Murphy at Dublin District Court. Garda Paul Cummins informed the court that the charges filed under the Firearms Act could see the accused facing up to a decade in prison. The Director of Public Prosecutions had ordered that the case proceed via a Circuit Court indictment trial.
Objections to granting bail were raised due to the severity of the alleged crime, as well as high-level concerns about possible continuation of serious offences, meddling with witnesses, or illegally sourced property getting disposed of. According to Garda Cummins, at 7.21am on the incident’s day, the police received a notification that a firearm had been used at a flat. The subsequent investigation of the scene revealed a bullet hole in the front window.
Allegedly, following a disagreement between the accused, a second male and the occupants of the premises, the men departed the flat complex only to return with a firearm that had been stashed nearby. According to Garda Cummins, the accused and the second male brandished the weapon at the residents, and fired a round at the front of the flat.
CCTV footage, according to him, showed another shot being fired through the rear property window. Moreover, he noted in the contested bail hearing that the video evidence clearly revealed that the individuals did not attempt to hide their identities at any moment during the occurrence. He expressed severe apprehension about potential additional serious offences against the residents of the flat. As the firearm is still missing, the police believe it may be employed once more.
When cross-questioned by defence lawyer Aoife McTaggart, the police officer conceded that no video evidence was presented in court and no DNA or gun residue proof existed. Judge Murphy set the bail at €3,000, of which Mr Lapongo deposited €1,000. He needs a separate surety of €10,000, which must be court-approved.
The Judge issued several conduct stipulations that Mr Lapongo would need to comply with once the bail conditions were fulfilled. He was instructed to live outside Dublin city centre but within the city, report to a local police station daily, adhere to a curfew from 10 pm to 7 am, abstain from all contact with the witnesses, keep his mobile on at all times, surrender his passport, and avoid both Mercer House and the Dublin 8 area.
Mr Lapongo, who has not yet pleaded to the charges, has been provisionally detained, with a right to apply for bail. He is scheduled to appear at Cloverhill District Court on September 18. Another man has been charged with the same offences in the previous week and has been kept in police custody till now.