The trial of man charged with shooting publican Charlie Chawke during an armed robbery was suddenly halted at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday after he changed his plea to guilty on all counts.
Frank Ward (51), Knockmore Avenue, Tallaght, was on trial on five charges arising out of the robbery and shooting of Mr Chawke at his public house in Goatstown, Dublin, in October 2003.
He pleaded guilty on the second day of his trial to intentionally causing serious harm to Mr Chawke, robbery of €48,652 in cash and cheques, possession of a shotgun with the intention to commit robbery and two counts of possession of a shotgun with the intention of resisting arrest at The Goat Grill, Goatstown, and at Stillorgan Heath on October 6th, 2003.
Judge Patrick McCartan told Ward that he had taken "a sensible attitude in light of the evidence that was emerging" and remanded him in custody for sentence in two weeks.
Pleas of not guilty had been initially been entered on his behalf to all the charges following a refusal by Ward, who was defending himself, to plead on the grounds that he believed he was illegally before the court.
A co-accused, Larry Cummins (54), was given a 15-year sentence in July 2006 for his role in the same offences.
Garda Nigel Burke told Patrick McCarthy SC, prosecuting, that he was in a patrol car stopped at traffic lights outside The Goat Grill when he heard a load bang. He saw a man running away from a person lying on the ground beside a silver car.
He said he ran after the man who got into the driver's seat of a red car and grabbed him in a "bear hug".
Garda Burke said he heard this man, Ward, shout "shoot the c**t" to Cummins in the passenger seat, who pointed a gun at him and Garda Burke backed off.
Garda Burke said before the red car fled the scene his colleague Garda David Sweeney was able to break the rear window with his baton.
He said they began a pursuit of the car through the Stillorgan area until it entered a cul de sac at Stillorgan Heath. Cummins pointed a gun at the patrol car through the broken window but no shots were fired.
Garda Burke said the Garda car stopped some distance away as the two men got out of the red car. He said they both turned to face the patrol car with shotguns raised. Ward fired at the patrol car, shattering the front windscreen before both men ran down a laneway.
Garda Burke said he and Garda Sweeney chased them down the lane, meeting a group of screaming schoolgirls running away, and a man on a push bike.
Garda Sweeney told the jury that he took the bike off the man and continued the chase. He saw the men pushing the shotguns through a fence and when he rounded a corner he saw them standing in bushes. He arrested the men with the assistance of Garda Burke and the cyclist and handcuffed them together.
Garda Sweeney denied during cross-examination by Ward that he believed in "noble cause corruption." Ward told Judge McCartan that this was a concept whereby it was permissible to fabricate evidence to secure conviction.