A DUBLIN man was found not guilty at the Central Criminal Court yesterday of the murder of a biker who was found shot through the head in a field at Carnew, Co Wicklow.
Mr Justice Morris directed the jury to return a not guilty verdict in the trial of Dermot Griffin (36), a single man from Windmill Road, Crumlin, Dublin.
The 10 member jury found Mr Griffin not guilty of the murder off Mr Stephen Murphy (34), also known as "Redser" or "Red", a bank porter from Copperfield Close, Mornington, Drogheda, Co Meath, in Carnew, Co Wicklow, on May 1st, 1994.
Mr Griffin had denied the charge of murder. He told gardai in a statement he had handed over a gun to another man just hours before Mr Murphy was shot.
Mr Griffin pleaded guilty to five charges relating to possession of a Mauser pistol and ammunition for unlawful purposes. He will be sentenced on those charges on Monday.
He admitted having a Mauser 9 mm semi automatic pistol for an unlawful purpose at Carnew on May 1st, 1994, and having the gun and seven rounds of ammunition for an unlawful purpose at Windmill Road, Crumlin, on April 29th, 1994, and at Rathnew, Co Wicklow, on April 30th, 1994.
In court yesterday, at the close of the State case, the jury was sent out while Mr Dennis Vaughan Buckley SC, defending, asked for the case to be withdrawn from the jury and for the judge to direct the jurors to return a not guilty verdict. He said there was no evidence to support either a verdict of murder or manslaughter. Legal discussion ensued.
When the jury returned to court, Mr Justice Morris told them the defence had applied for the case to be withdrawn from them, and he thought it proper to accede to that application.
He said the time of murder required an intention of the accused to cause death. Whatever about the evidence that Dermot Griffin had handed over a loaded gun, there was no evidence of intention on his part, the judge said.
He said an alternative verdict would be manslaughter. There was evidence before the jury on which they could find Mr Griffin guilty of an unlawful and highly reckless act in passing over a loaded gun to another person.
But there was another aspect that must be considered, Mr Justice Morris said. There was no evidence of what had happened when Stephen Murphy died.
He said the jury would be required to consider every aspect of the case, and in the absence of evidence of what happened when Mr Murphy died, if there was a hypothesis consistent with the innocence of the accused, they were obliged under law to accept that. He said the death of Mr Murphy might have arisen as a result of self defence to an attack provoked by Mr Murphy.
In all those circumstances, the judge said, he was withdrawing the case from the jury and directing them to return a not guilty verdict.
The five day trial heard that Stephen Murphy attended a bikers' rally at Carnew held over the weekend of April 29th to May 1st, 1994. The rally was organised by the East Coast Rider Motorcycle Club and attended by up to 1,200 bikers including the bikers' clubs "The Family" and the "Viking Nomads".
Mr Murphy was found seriously injured in the rally field in the early hours of May 1st, 1994, and pronounced dead at 9 a.m.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, said he died from haemorrhage and laceration of the brain due to a single bullet wound to the head. The shot was fired from a distance of less than a foot.
In a statement made to gardai, Dermot Griffin said he got possession of a very old pistol with a loaded magazine on April 29th, 1924. He said the pistol was examined by a friend who cleaned it. He said he had the gun with him when he travelled with others to the Carnew bikers' rally on April 30th, 1994.
He said they stopped on the way at Rathnew, where he asked a friend to check the gun.
In a second statement made on May 31st, 1994, Mr Griffin said he had a lot to drink when he was approached at the Carnew rally in the early hours of May 1st 1994, by a friend who told him he had "problems with Red".
"He asked me for the yoke," he said. Mr Griffin said he gave the man the pistol. He said: "I can't give any names, I fear for my life and my family."
He said in the statement he knew when he gave the man the gun "it was possible they were going to kill Red".
Mr James Mullins said he saw Stephen Murphy "having words" with a few people in the food tent at the Carnew rally in the early hours of May 1st. Things "got a bit out of hand", and Mr Murphy had jumped over the table and was struck in the face by a man who was not Mr Griffin. Mr Mullins said he and others pulled Mr Murphy away.
He described Mr Murphy as very upset", and said he had said: "This isn't going to be the end of it." Mr Murphy later disappeared twice and they looked for him. On one occasion they found him staring at the backs of four or five other bikers.
Mr Paul Lane said he saw Mr Murphy exchange words with another person in the food tent at the rally in the early hours of May 1st, 1994.