The wife of a former member of the drugs gang behind the murder of the journalist Veronica Guerin told the Special Criminal Court yesterday that she and her husband had planned to flee to Australia after the murder.
Mrs Juliet Bowden said that she and her husband, Charles Bowden, had passport photos taken and she had worn a wig to disguise her "skinhead" haircut. She also said that Mr Brian Meehan, the man accused of Ms Guerin's murder, had given her £10,000 in cash towards bail for her husband and another £5,000 for her own use.
Mrs Bowden, who is in the Witness Protection Programme, admitted to Mr John McCrudden QC, defending, that Charles Bowden had bought a BMW car from Brendan "Speedy" Fegan, an alleged drugs dealer who was shot dead in Newry last month.
Yesterday was the 10th day of the trial of Mr Meehan (34), of no fixed abode, and formerly of Clifton Court, Dublin, and Stanaway Road, Crumlin, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Guerin at Naas Road, Clondalkin, on June 26th, 1996.
Mr Meehan denies 16 other charges involving drugs offences. He has also pleaded not guilty to possession of a sub-machine-gun and other weapons.
Mrs Bowden (29), cross-examined by Mr McCrudden, said that her husband was freed on bail totalling £60,000 after he was charged with drugs offences in October 1996. A £30,000 surety was put up by a friend of her brother, Mr David Bacon, and a £30,000 cash lodgment was paid by Brian Meehan, her family and Mr Bowden's family.
She said that Mr Meehan gave her £10,000 for the bail and also £5,000 in cash for herself because she did not have any money. She denied a suggestion by Mr McCrudden that £15,000 of the cash lodgment came from a secret compartment in the house at The Paddocks in Navan Road, Dublin, where she and Charles Bowden lived.
She told Mr McCrudden that she and her husband went to London after he got bail and they had planned to go to Australia because she had once worked there.
She said that she had bought a BMW car from a garage owned by a man, who can only be identified as Mr A and who was the alleged leader of the drugs gang behind the Guerin murder. Her husband sold the car and then bought another BMW from Brendan Fegan.
Mrs Bowden said she had been convicted for stealing goods from her employer, a shop on Dublin's Ormond Quay, but she could not remember the details of the case. She had also worked in a convalescent home, for a solicitor, had worked in Australia, then for an exhibition company in Stoneybatter in Dublin, as a nurses' aide, for an insurance company and then as a hairdresser in Clips, the shop Mr Bowden had bought.
Mrs Bowden denied that there was a party or celebration at their home on the night Veronica Guerin was shot dead. She said she and Mr Bowden had gone home alone after being in the Hole in the Wall pub that night. Her husband must have been "mistaken" when he said that three or four people had gone home with them that night.
John Dunne, who is serving 10 concurrent three-year jail sentences for illegally importing cannabis resin, told the court he worked for a company in Cork which imported and exported goods from the UK and Europe.
He told Mr Eamonn Leahy SC, prosecuting, that he had arranged for between 50 and 60 consignments to be brought in from Holland for collection by Mr A or his associates. He said he was paid £1,000 on average for each consignment and he himself would pay the freight costs, ranging from £100 to £300, and keep the rest of the cash.
He identified the accused man in the dock, Brian Meehan, as a man he knew as "Joe" who had collected some of the consignments for Mr A.
The trial continues today.