Jastine suspect Hennessy was in court on drink driving charge only last week
He had two convictions
MARK Hennessy appeared in court just last Monday charged with dangerous driving, drink driving and leaving the scene of an accident after crashing into another car last September.
The 40-year-old would have been due to appear again in Bray District Court in less than three weeks time, on June 11, over the criminal case. It is alleged he smashed into another car on Meath Road in Bray, later fleeing the scene before being arrested and breathalysed.
He was later charged with three offences arising from the accident.
Despite this problem, the fatherof-two was not ‘known to gardaí’ in any real sense, sources say.
Originally from Ballybrack in south Co. Dublin, he also had two other ‘Mickey Mouse’ convictions, according to security sources.
Nineteen years ago, in 1999, he was caught in possession of Irl£100 worth of cannabis at St Stephen’s Green.
The then 21-year-old was charged with possession of illegal drugs for personal use and he was fined Irl£100.
A year later, in September 2000, he was charged with a minor public order offence, of being intoxicated in a public place in Rathmines in Dublin.
He was convicted and fined €250 for this minor public order offence.
Sources say that the dead man was not considered by gardaí to be of ‘any criminal calibre whatsoever’.
A senior source said: ‘In the scheme of criminality, it’s all very low grade and minor, his brushes with the law.
‘The best way to describe it is Mickey Mouse stuff.
‘Perhaps he was a bit wayward as a young lad and then the recent drink and dangerous driving suggests a man who is a risk taker and someone who makes bad decisions.
‘But there was nothing in this man’s history to suggest he would be capable, let alone have the inclination, to abduct a young woman. To describe what unfolded as shocking is an understatement. No one saw it coming.’
Hennessy had certainly appeared to have cleaned up his life as he got older. He had settled down with his partner and had two young children, one of whom was born only last September.
He also had a steady job working since July 2013 as a general operative with the MCR Group and is understood to have been working on the redevelopment of the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dún Laoghaire.
A neighbour of Hennessy at his
estate in Woodbrook Lawn described him as a ‘terribly nice man’ and that she couldn’t believe the news that came out about him last night.
She described how he had called in on her to check if she was managing okay during the recent Storm Emma.
She said: ‘He was only here a couple of years and he is the only one from around here – I am on my own – that came in several times when the snow was here and knocked and asked me if I wanted anything from the shops.’
The neighbour went on to say how when he moved in he ‘couldn’t have been nicer’.
‘He asked me would I hold his key for him if anything happened. If the alarm went off, anything like that,’ the neighbour said.
Hennessy had bought the black Nissan Qashqui, which had been the focal point of the investigation during the weekend, only eight or nine months ago.
Other people living in the same estate as Hennessy said that they were not aware of him until the news broke during the weekend.
He was described as being very quiet and kept to himself since he moved into the area.