A Limerick man accused of the murder of a moneylender and drug dealer admitted to gardai he had been one of two men involved in the shooting, the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday.
The court was hearing Garda evidence on the fourth day of the trial of Mr Noel Kelly (19), who has denied the murder of Mr John Keane (26) at the house they shared at O'Malley Park estate, Limerick, on July 5th last year.
Det Garda Patrick Cox gave evidence of interviews he and another detective had with the defendant in Roxboro Garda station. The jury was told that at first he denied all knowledge of the killing. He then said to gardai he was told to be away from the dead man's house on the night of the killing. Det Garda Cox told the court that Mr Kelly had agreed with all the interview notes read to him but had declined to sign them.
According to Garda notes, the defendant said he could not help gardai and they knew why. Asked what part he had in the shooting of Mr Keane, he said: "You know what part". Asked to explain that part, he said: "Look, please, I am a dead man if I do."
However, when under arrest on July 22nd, 1996, Garda notes recorded Mr Kelly naming the man he claimed had told him to keep away from the house on the night the killing took place.
In a further interview he told gardai he had "left the door right" for the attackers. Later Mr Kelly made a full statement in which he admitted he was one of the two men involved in the attack. He met the other man at about 2:45 a.m. on July 5th and donned a balaclava and woollen gloves. He was given a single-barrelled sawn-off shotgun by the other man, who himself had a double-barrelled one. The defendant told gardai they went to Mr Keane's house, and in his bedroom he or the other man fired a shot.
After Mr Keane ran out, "two more shots were fired, I really don't know who fired them". He admitted to gardai: "I may have hit `Caino' with my gun."
The statement claimed the other man told him: "Listen, keep your mouth shut. You can always hide but your family can't."
Cross-examined by Mr Michael McMahon SC, defending, Det Garda Cox said that at no stage had the defendant asked for a solicitor during his detention.
In answer to repeated suggestions from Mr McMahon that he was banging the table and shouting in the course of the interrogations, Det Garda Cox said: "None of the things that counsel described took place in any of the interviews."
The trial continues.