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‘I’d never have used Viper if I’d known his criminal background’, says landlord’s ex

Martin Foley escapes with a suspended sentence over his role in incident where tenant was threatened

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A man who engaged the help of Martin Foley’s ‘Viper Debt Collections’ to collect €4,000 in rent arrears from a tenant said: “I’d never have used them in a million years if I known of his criminal background.”

Speaking after Foley received a 12 month ban from entering Wexford town over his role in an incident during which the tenant was threatened his throat would be slit, the man said he and his former partner, Ludmila, would never have condoned threats of any kind.

The man said Ludmila, who is Latvian and owned the house, had initially sought quotes to recover a debt from a number of different debt collection agencies. The court heard how she claimed she was owed €4,000 by her tenant.

However, she chose Viper Debt Collection as they proposed a charge of 20 per cent of the debt rather than a daily rate.

“Ludmila was struggling to pay a mortgage on the place,” he said.

“She had tried sending the tenant Nigel Doolin registered letters and they were coming back undelivered.

“And when she went to the PRTB they told her it could take up to three years to get sorted because it was during Covid.

“In another three years, she would have lost the house.”

The man said when Ludmila initially contacted Viper Debt Collections, she was put in contact with Alan Nulty.

“He rang back later,” he said.

“He wanted to know the quantity of the debt.

“It was €4,000 and it was going up.

“Two or three weeks later, I rang to get an update and he told me they had left a business card through the letter-box asking the tenant to contact them.

“I said I’d meet them the next time they were down.

“So I was here in the estate the night this all happened, when they called up.”

The man said he was sitting in his car with his brother in law when the Viper recovery van arrived and that he walked up the steps to the front door behind Nulty and Foley.

“In fairness,” he said, “things did start to get a little bit heated.

“Alan Nulty asked if he had gotten the card.

“Nigel said he did and then Alan asked him why he didn’t ring back.

“Nigel said it was because it was being dealt with through the tenancy board.

“I never heard Alan Nulty threaten to slit Nigel’s throat or smash his head in or anything like that.

“Because, at one stage, the man who I now know to be Martin Foley turned, and he said: ‘Look it, the man may be intimidated so we’ll leave Alan to talk to him on his own.’

“So I was led away from the door while Alan Nulty made the threats.”

Unknown to Foley and Nulty, the tenant was making an audio recording of everything that was being said while a neighbour had already alerted gardaí about a commotion in the estate.

The recording also captured a conversation between the landlord’s partner and Foley in relation to the door of the house ‘being put in.’

“The two lads [Nulty and Foley] were actually on their way out of the estate when the gardaí drove in,” the man said.

“They voluntarily turned around because they guessed the guards had been called over what was happening.

“Two female gardaí pulled in outside and one of them said to me, while she was getting my details: ‘Is that the Viper? Is that Martin Foley?’ I didn’t have a clue who he was until then.”

Asked whether he would have engaged with Viper Debt Collection if he had known of Foley’s past, the landlord’s former partner responded: “Not in a million years.

“Knowing now, what we know, absolutely not.

“We would never condone threats like that being made.”

At Foley’s sentencing sitting at Wexford Circuit Court this week, barrister Sinead Gleeson said the only charge before the court against Foley, arising from the incident, was a Section 6 public order offence.

A charge alleging Foley had made a threat to kill tenant Nigel Doolin at Holly Walk, Cromwellsfort Grove, Wexford on June 17, 2020 was dropped previously.

Foley’s co-accused Alan Nulty had already pleaded guilty and been sentenced for threatening tenant Mr Doolin he would ‘have his throat slit while he walked his dog’ and another that he would “get someone to smash your head with a hammer” if he didn’t come up with the cash.

Nulty dodged a jail sentence for the offences, which carry a maximum sentence of up to 10 years in prison, after the court heard he had ‘no intention of carrying out the threats.’

At Wednesday’s sitting, defence barrister Katherine Leader said recordings, made by Mr Doolin showed her client had walked away before the threats were made.

She said he could be heard on the tape, prior to the threats being made, saying: “I’m annoyed … I’m going to walk away!”

Ms Leader said that although the court had heard that Foley has 62 previous offences, 41 were for driving matters, and his most recent conviction for threatening and abusive behaviour occurred 21 years ago.

She said her client ‘regrets and apologises for the disturbance caused.’

Noting that Foley had co-operated with gardai, made admissions and offered a plea, Judge James McCourt said the appropriate sentence was three months in prison.

But he suspended the sentence in its entirety subject to a number of conditions.

He ordered that Foley not enter Wexford town or its environs for a period of a year, that he have no further contact with the victim, that he pay the sum of €500 to the Cornmarket Project in Wexford town and that he enter a bond of €2000 to keep the peace.

Nicknamed ‘The Viper’, Martin Foley has 62 convictions for offences including assault, robbery and possession of threatening weapons.

The vast majority of his convictions are road traffic related.

In 2020, he was ordered to pay €738,449 in tax, interest and penalties after losing a Supreme Court appeal against a Criminal Assets Bureau tax bill

Approached as he left court on Wednesday, Martin Foley declined to comment on the outcome of the case.