A self-confessed drug pusher told a Central Criminal Court jury yesterday he heard a man accused of murder say the victim had "ripped him off" in an ecstasy deal and "he was going to get him".
The drug pusher, a Dublin youth, admitted that he had sold ecstasy on behalf of the son of the accused, who was also charged with murder and who the court has heard "has been dealt with according to law".
The State Pathologist told the court the victim was subjected to a severe beating and a shotgun was put to his head and fired.
It was the second day of the trial of Mr Joseph Delaney (53), of Palmerstown Park, Palmerstown, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Mark Dwyer (23) with his son, Mr Scott Delaney, on or about December 14th, 1996.
Mr Delaney also denies a second count that on December 14th, 1996, at Foster Terrace, Ballybough, Dublin, he falsely imprisoned Mr Dwyer.
Mr Carl Dunne (18), from Gloucester Place, Dublin, gave evidence that his friend, Scott Delaney, had made his living by "selling ecstasy" and "probably hash". He agreed that Scott Delaney rarely handled drugs himself but got others to do so. He admitted he paid for his cocaine habit at the time through "selling drugs for Scott".
He told Mr Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, that in the week before Mr Dwyer's abduction, he had been at a house in East Wall where there lived a friend of Scott Delaney, a man in his late 30s. He did not know what Scott Delaney had in common with this man but both were present when he heard Mr Joe Delaney say Mr Dwyer had "ripped him off" in "an ecstasy deal".
Mr Joe Delaney was "bulling" about this and his words were: "I'll get the little bastard."
The court heard that the "ripoff" referred to was when Scott Delaney and Mr Dwyer had gone to collect £20,000 worth of drugs for the accused at a Coolock pub. Another man, "who said he was a policeman", had held them up at gunpoint before running off with the drugs.
Cross-examined by Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, Mr Dunne admitted he had given completely different accounts between his first statements to gardai on December 16th, 1996, and further statements he made while in custody on December 18th and 19th.
Asked what had happened to make him less afraid to tell gardai the truth, he replied: "I don't know."
"Everybody" had first been under suspicion about the drugs heist, including Scott Delaney and two other men. While driving around in a car with him, Scott Delaney told him "his father believed it was Mark that did the rip".
On the night of December 13th, Scott Delaney told him that "someone was going to go up to Mark to talk to him about the missing drugs". He had not known this would involve three men wearing balaclavas coming to Mr Dwyer's flat and carrying him away to be killed.
The State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, told the court that initially his report was that Mr Dwyer died from a wound to the head by a shotgun discharged "at virtual contact range". He had revised this opinion to "actual contact" because the head had been "blown out" by the shot.
The post-mortem evidence suggested Mr Dwyer had been subjected to a punishment beating with a baseball bat or pipe. There were "up to six, possible more" parallel lines on his back from the beating. Shotgun impact marks on his chest suggested he had also been threatened with the gun.
A drugs screen on the body proved positive for opiates, and cocaine and the opiate replacement methadone were also detected.
He told Mr O'Carroll that he could not rule out the possibility that Mr Dwyer was shot in the field in Scribblestown Lane, Finglas, where his body was found.
The case continues