A defence lawyer for Mr John Gilligan, who is on trial for the murder of Veronica Guerin, told the Special Criminal Court today that protected witness Charles Bowden had lied to the gardaí and continued to lie in the witness box.
Mr Michael O'Higgins SC said that Bowden lied to the court about £100,000 which was found by gardaí at a flat in Mespil Road and which he claimed was his life savings from his drug dealing activity.
"The evidence that he had earned substantialy more money than was found in Mespil Road is overwhelming," he said.
Mr O'Higgins said that Bowden had admitted to the court during the trial that he could give no explanation "consistent with the truth" about the money and this "drives a coach and horses through his credibility as a witness in this case."
"Mr Bowden's testimony is such that telling the truth was as much likely to cause him bother as telling lies," he said.
"When eventually he is cornered and confronted with the facts he will make concessions and only in those circumstances will he make concessions," he added.
Mr O' Higgins said that protected witness Russell Warren's account showed the dangers of accomplice evidence."An accomplice knows bits and pieces about what's going on. They don't know the full picture.They add and weave added material into other material which is known to them," he said.
Counsel said that in his evidence warren had "flagged a significant detail" - that Ms Guerin's car had a spoiler- and when it was brought to his attention that her car did not have a spoiler he said :"That's the way I see it."
"You can't have evidence of a probative nature that is tendered on the basis of how you visualise something.This is not a matter of recollection. It is a witness talking about how he would visualise it," he added.
Mr O'Higgins said that Warren "floated between various options" and when it was pointed out to him by an authority figure he changed tack.
"He is a man who will come around to whatever the line of least resistance is," he said."It's an account when one looks at its unsureness in respect of everything in Naas, in respect of everything on the dual carriageway, I would ask the court to assess it in terms of Mr Warren's credibility."
He said that Warren's account of spotting Ms Guerin's car in Naas, witnessing the murder, making his escape from the scene and talking by phone to Gilligan was a scenario that was only outlined by Warren ten months after Ms Guerin's murder."It lacks internal confirmation," he added.
Mr O'Higgins continues his closing submissions tomorrow.