An eye witness to the murder of Veronica Guerin told the Special Criminal Court today the killing left "a lasting impression" on his mind.
Mr John Darcy said he saw the pillion passenger on a motorbike take a gun from the pocket of his jacket and fire a number of shots into a red car stopped at traffic lights on the Naas Road.
Mr Darcy said he was one car behind the red car and he heard a bang. "When I looked up I could see this chap at the driver's side of the red car with a gun. I could see this hand gun and I could see the barrel of it and the chamber and it actually turned. There was movement in the chamber of the gun."
When asked by Mr Terence Mc Donald QC, counsel for murder accused Mr John Gilligan, if he was certain, Mr Darcy said: "I had not seen a gun in years and here I was in the centre of Dublin. It left a lasting impression on one's mind."
Mr Darcy said the incident did not seem shocking at the time because it happened so quickly but it was shocking afterwards.
He said after the shooting the gunman put the gun in the right-hand pocket of his bomber jacket and the motorbike "scooted off" straight up the Naas dual carriageway and he told the court that he followed it. He said the motorbike pulled around cars waiting for a filter light and went up the Belgard Road.
"I just could not believe I had seen this," he said. Mr Darcy told the court he could not describe the motorbike because he was taken aback by what he had seen in front of him.
The prosecution has claimed John Gilligan was "in control and command" of a criminal gang that imported and distributed large amounts of cannabis and that he organised the murder of Ms Guerin. Mr Gilligan also denies fifteen other counts alleging the importation of cannabis and firearms and ammunition offences. The trial is continuing.