A farmworker has told a murder trial jury she thought she saw two trespassers turn back at the same time that she heard a third shot, fired by law professor Diarmuid Phelan, on his farm in Co Dublin.
When she heard the first shot on February 22nd, 2022, it sounded like a firework and she saw Mr Phelan had a gun in his hand and his arm in the air, Alexandra Fernandez, a French national, said.
Giving evidence in French, translated by an interpreter, Ms Fernandez said Mr Phelan kept on saying “Go, go” to the two men whom she had seen come out of bushes earlier and walk towards Mr Phelan.
One man was loudly arguing with Mr Phelan and, when that man passed her, he appeared to be crying, she said. He had a cigarette in his left hand and something pink “like a ball” in his right but she did not know what it was.
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She thought there was maybe 5m to 6m between that man and Mr Phelan when she heard the first shot. She heard a second shot but did not turn her head towards Mr Phelan because she knew what it was.
Between the second and third shot, she did not see Mr Phelan, she said. She thought she saw the two men turning back at the same time as she heard the third shot, she said. She saw the two men turning back towards her, she said.
She saw blood on the head of one of the man as he went past her, she said, and pointed to the back of her head. The man made one or two steps before he fell to the ground.
Asked how she felt during these events, she said she was afraid the men were going to do something “to avenge” on Tal – Mr Phelan’s dog – because she knew he had killed their dog.
She said she had earlier seen Mr Phelan, who had a rifle, another farmworker, Julien Roudaut, and Tal go into bushes on the farm. She had heard men’s voices, arguing and shouting, coming from the bushes before she saw Mr Phelan, Mr Roudat and Tal come out of the bushes. She also saw two men come out of the bushes and walk towards Mr Phelan.
Ms Fernandez gave evidence on Tuesday, the fifth day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court of Mr Phelan. The 56-year-old senior counsel and law professor has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Keith Conlon at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, Co Dublin on February 24th, 2022.
Mr Conlon was one of three trespassers fox hunting on the farm on February 22nd, 2022. The prosecution contend Mr Phelan shot a dog belonging to one trespasser, Kallum Coleman, exchanges with the trespassers followed and Mr Phelan later fired two shots into the air from his revolver, a third shot penetrated Mr Conlon’s body, he was critically injured and pronounced dead in hospital two days later.
Mr Phelan, the prosecution contend, had the requisite intent for murder.
The jury has heard Mr Phelan told gardaí he believed, if he had not reacted immediately, “he would have got me” and he was “terrified”. The prosecution has said it understands the defence case as being Mr Phelan was entitled to discharge his firearm as he did and it was a legitimate act of self-defence not done with intent to penetrate the body of Mr Conlon.
The direct examination of Ms Fernandez, aged 48, who came to Ireland for the first time in early February 2022 to work on farms in return for board and lodging, has ended. She will be cross-examined when the trial resumes on Wednesday before Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford and the jury of nine men and three women.
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