Anthony Piovesan
THE owner of a new Alicante Province beachside bar claims to have received bomb threats over demands he vacate the property.
Eoin Hennessy has reported multiple incidents of extortion and threats since he opened his Irish bar with his wife in Javea this year.
The 48-year-old expat told the Olive Press he has been forced to file three police reports and hire a lawyer to protect himself and his business- Hennessy’s.
The father-of-two, who moved to the upmarket resort with his family two years ago, claims he is being blackmailed over allegations of unpaid rent.
This is despite ‘proof’ he paid a €3,000 deposit and a month’s rent to a local expat couple who subleased him the property before opening in May.
It was a month later that ‘things turned nasty’ after he claimed his landlords sent him an electricity bill which ‘didn’t stack up’ to the actual usage.
When he politely asked the pair – a British and Chinese couple – to come in and check the meter with him, he claims he was threatened and told to pay the bill or leave.
The mechanical engineer from Dublin said he then started to receive strange text messages demanding the money, one from an Irish number and the another from the UK.
One seen by the Olive Press claimed to know where his family lived, and they would be approached for the money owed. Another screamed: “Seven days Eoin. Eyes on your business, home, family in Ireland”.
An even more alarming text to his wife stated he had put them all ‘in danger’.
According to a police report seen by the newspaper a man entered the bar and threatened Hennessy claiming he was a ‘dead man’ and ‘people from Marbella’ would come and evict him.
Most recently on September 20 four tyres of his Range Rover were slashed, while parked outside.
Police were called to investigate, with one officer checking underneath following another threat that ‘an explosive device’ had been planted.
Hennessy said the ongoing ordeal was taking an emotional toll on him and his wife, who have two kids, one six, the other a baby. “This is pulling us apart,” he said. “Ever since the tyre slashing I’ve had to check under the car for devices and I drive home a different way each night in case I’m being followed.”
Police confirmed the case was being investigated and it had now been transferred to Denia Court.
Legal firm Harvey Lawyers, which represents the family, told the Olive Press it is awaiting a court date.
The Olive Press phoned both numbers that sent threatening texts, but they have now been disconnected.
Meanwhile the landlords, who we are not naming for legal reasons, confirmed that they owned the lease and were indeed trying to obtain ‘unpaid rent’, now using a lawyer.
The wife, a well known local business woman, insisted neither she nor her husband had been threatening or violent. “This is a lie,” she said. “He actually has not paid [rent], so we are now waiting for his lease to finish and then he has to leave.”
She added: “I have businesses here, my children go to school here, I have a house, I have everything here … we don’t want to fight with him,” she said.
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