The trial and the sentence hearing were both held in the court in the grounds of Cloverhill Prison under strict security conditions due to tensions between feuding factions in the north inner city area.
Det Sgt Walter O'Connell yesterday told the court of a number of serious incidents, including two fatal shootings, in which firearms and grenades had been used by opposing factions to intimidate each other as a result of the trial.
Det Sgt O'Connell said the fatal shootings in the inner city area were of Gerard Byrne on December 13th, just after this trial began, and of Stephen Ledden in his own house on December 27th, 2006.
Det Sgt O'Connell said that five shots were discharged on October 7th, 2005, through the front sitting-room window of Griffin's home in Swords.
"He was struck by one bullet causing an injury to his elbow but though he came face to face with his assailant and should have been able to identify him, Griffin would not co-operate with the Garda investigation," he said.
Det Sgt O'Connell said that a lone gunman got out of a car at Oriel Street in the inner city at about 6am on November 5th, 2006, and walked into a nearby street where he fired three shots into the complainant's family home, "two into the upstairs bedrooms and one into the downstairs sitting room".
Det Sgt O'Connell said that a few minutes later, shots were fired into another house in an adjacent area, "two shots through the sitting room window, one through the hall door and two into a man's jeep".
Nobody was injured in either of these incidents though the houses were occupied at the time. He said gardaí recovered four shell cases from the first scene and five from the second.
The next night, November 6th, 2006, a hand grenade was thrown at about 9.35pm into the rear garden of Griffin's home in Swords and exploded, causing extensive damage to the rear patio door, the ceiling in the house and a paved area in the garden.
Det Sgt O'Connell said gardaí reported that Griffin was in the house with one of his children when his attackers arrived and he saw and recognised them, but he would not co-operate with the investigating detectives.
Shortly afterwards at about 10pm on the same night, a grenade was fired at a Finglas house where a relative of Griffin lived. Nobody was there at the time.
Det Sgt O'Connell agreed that the incidents on November 6th "appeared to be in retaliation for the incidents of the previous night in the inner city area".
As a result of these incidents, the area "is now saturated with armed gardaí and, but for this strong Garda presence, other killings would have happened".
Det Sgt O'Connell agreed with Martin Giblin, defending, that Griffin had not been charged in relation to any of these matters. He also agreed his evidence was based on Garda intelligence and that he had known such intelligence to be faulty in the past but that he could only give the information as he knew it.