A Dublin man helped plan the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin and then disposed of the motorcycle and gun used in the killing, the Special Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Peter Charleton SC said Mr Paul Ward was "complicit" in the murder, took part in discussions before it was carried out and had given comfort to the killers by helping in their escape and disposing of the motorcycle and gun used.
Ms Guerin's widower, Mr Graham Turley, and her brother, Mr Jimmy Guerin, were in court yesterday for the resumption of the trial of the first man accused of the murder.
The trial of Mr Ward (34), with an address at Walkinstown Road, Dublin, resumed yesterday after a nine-month delay.
In January Mr Ward pleaded not guilty to the murder at the Naas Road, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, on June 26th, 1996. However, the trial was adjourned after a legal dispute concerning the disclosure to the defence of about 40 statements made by informants to gardai.
The issue went to the High Court and Supreme Court. The latter upheld the State's position the documents were privileged.
Yesterday the three judges at the Special Criminal Court decided to examine the disputed statements and determine their admissibility.
Mr Justice Barr, presiding, said it was important in the interests of justice that the court should examine the documents.
Following the court's decision, Mr Charleton gave a brief resume of the prosecution case against Mr Ward. He said Ms Guerin had been stopped at traffic lights at the junction of the Naas Road and Boot Road after returning from a court case in Naas, Co Kildare, when a motorcycle pulled up beside her. The pillion passenger took out an implement and smashed the side window and shot Ms Guerin.
The first shots entered her chest and then others entered her back and lung as she tried to get away. The motorcycle then sped off and went to the defendant's house at Walkinstown Road, where he had planned to dispose of the motorcycle.
According to evidence to be given by Charles Bowden, currently under a Witness Protection
Programme, Mr Ward was "somewhat surprised' when he was also asked to get rid of the murder weapon.
Mr Charleton said that in 1991 a gang began distributing large quantities of cannabis resin which had been imported from outside the State. Charles Bowden had joined the gang in 1994 but it was not until he returned from holiday in the United States in 1995 that he became aware of who else was in the gang. These included Mr Ward and a number of other men who cannot be named by direction of the court.
Bowden would give evidence of a discussion involving Mr Ward and other members of the gang in a car at the Strawberry Beds in Dublin in early June 1996 about planning to murder Ms Guerin.
Mr Charleton said the gang had imported a large number of weapons, including submachineguns, handguns, and several hundred rounds of ammunition. These weapons were "intimately involved" in the Guerin murder, he added.
Gardai later discovered the weapons hidden in a grave at a Jewish cemetery at Oldcourt Road in Tallaght. Bowden was the person who prepared the gun and bullets used in Ms Guerin's murder, he said.
During discussions at which Mr Ward was present, reference was made to having Ms Guerin followed from court in Naas and the fact that somebody would be watching her. Six bullets were loaded into a .357 Magnum revolver and it was readied for the shooting.
Mr Charleton said there was no forensic evidence to link Mr Ward to the murder. The gun used was never recovered and the motorcycle was found dismantled in a canal in Dublin.
He said alleged verbal admissions made by Mr Ward while in Garda custody were sufficient, the prosecution would claim, to convict him in relation to the crime. He said there would also be evidence of mobile phone calls between Mr Ward and one of the men on the motorcycle on the day of the killing.
In evidence, Ms Michelle Wall, a maternity nurse at the Rotunda Hospital, said she was on the Naas dual carriageway when she noticed that although the traffic lights had changed the traffic had not moved. She went to give assistance and found Ms Guerin in her car. Ms Wall said she moved the seat down but she thought Ms Guerin was already dead.
Another nurse, Ms Brenda Grogan, said she saw Ms Guerin slumped over the passenger seat in her car. There was a lot of blood. She could detect no pulse and with Ms Wall she helped move the seat down.
Mr Patrick Mooney said he was walking along the Naas dual carriageway when he saw a motorcycle with two people completely dressed in black speeding off towards the Belgard Road.
The trial resumes tomorrow.