Landlord filmed pinning man to wall with iron bar insists he was 'protecting tenants'

Video of Kevin Burke entering one of his properties in Roscrea, Tipperary, and accosting a man over damage to a door has gone viral worldwide.

In the footage, which Burke described to our reporter as 'vulgar and despicable' - the 52-year-old can be heard screaming: "You f***ing pay me for the door, do you understand," before placing a stick or iron bar up to a man's throat.

Later, he can be heard on the same video threatening: "You'll be buried up the hills."

Approached this week and asked to explain his conduct on the recording, Mr Burke told the Sunday World people who viewed the video online needed to know the context before commenting.

"That was not a tenant eviction. I can clarify that," he said.

"The details have been given to gardaí but this has been plundered all over the social media. It's vulgar, I'll 100pc agree with that.

"The video is absolutely vulgar and despicable, but you have to know the circumstances around it."

Mr Burke claimed to the Sunday World he had been called to the home by an 18-year-old tenant who was in a panic that a man, who was not a tenant, had entered the property after breaking in the door.

"I didn't know how many of them might have been in there," Burke claimed.

"I went up to that apartment and the front door was after being broken in - so, I had to act.

"And I taped it for my own protection. That was what it was taped for.

"And yes, it looks horrendous.

"But it needs to be clarified, he (the man pinned to the wall) was not a tenant.

"He is not a tenant and I don't know that man's name.

"There are text messages from the tenant asking me to come up and the Gardaí now have them."

Mr Burke continued: "One thing I would like to say is that the situation was brought to an amicable conclusion.

"That guy you see on the video brought in three more of his fellow Lithuanians.

"They came into the apartment and saw me and one of them said: 'Kevin, you're a good guy, I know you'. They said sorry for all the trouble caused.

"I said: 'That's fine, all I want is compensation for the damage to the doors'.

"And they said: 'No problem, we'll pay you'. "One of the lads went down to the bank machine and, all this is on tape, came back with €120.

"And then, as they were going to drive away, one of them came back and gave me another €20 for the damage. That's the end of it.

"So, what's there in the video is maybe a minute-and-a-half or two minutes in between. Basically, I was there protecting my tenants."

Mr Burke said he has since spoken to gardaí and handed over his phone with the texts and the full footage from the incident in the flat.

"The Gardaí came to me and I gave them a clear notation of events," he said.

"They had no reason to arrest me or anything like that.

"I had given them my phone so that they had the text messages from the tenant in the flat.

"So, they then took his phone - the guy in the flat - so they have now matched the whole lot together.

"So, they now see this guy was in fear and I went up there to protect him.

"And that's how the incident occurred.

"The Gardaí are now in possession of all the information.

"This is being portrayed all over the world that this was a tenant that was pinned up against the wall. But it wasn't."

When it was put to Mr Burke that he had been labelled a 'rogue landlord' he responded: "Oh, big time. Big time."

Asked if he disagreed with that description, he responded: "One million percent.

"I've loads of properties. That's my takeaway around the corner.

"And you can ask any of my tenants and they'll tell you I'm a good landlord.

"I've been victimised totally through all of this. There's threats online and everything," he added.

A Garda spokesman confirmed that they are looking into the video, saying: "An Garda Síochána are aware of a video circulating on social media and are making enquiries in relation to it.

"An Garda Síochána has not received a report of any incident which occurred in the district matching the contents of this video.

"An Garda Síochána would encourage anyone who feels they have been the victim of a crime to report the matter directly to An Garda Síochána and not to third parties or on social media."