The father of a man accused of murder has told how he barricaded himself and his family into a flat for protection. He did this after hearing the family of the deceased issue a death threat against all of them, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mr Richard Thomas snr told the court his family had acquired guns after the funeral of another man who had been shot dead in a pub in Finglas. A death threat had been issued against him and his family.
"At the funeral they swore to kill all the Thomas family," he said. He added that he had received a warning phone call.
Mr David Thomas (34), of Finglas, Dublin, has denied the murder of Mr Eamon O'Reilly (23), of Sandyhill Gardens, Ballymun, in the Co Dublin pub on January 11th, 1998.
Mr Thomas has also denied seven other counts of possession of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life or cause serious injury, and of assaulting two gardai.
Mr Thomas snr, of Cloonlarra Crescent, Finglas, said that on the day of the shooting he recognised a number of the men entering the pub as members of the O'Reilly gang. He said he recognised them as he had attempted in the past to negotiate with them to persuade them to stop attacking his sons. "I knew they knew me. They didn't like the Thomas family because of the beatings they were giving my lads. I had a feeling they were going to come over to me and do the same to me," he told defence counsel Mr Anthony Sammon SC.
Mr Thomas told the court he was with some family members when some men lunged at him as he sat cornered in the pub. He said he was repeatedly beaten with an iron bar, resulting in a four-inch scar to his head.
"All of them had their arms raised. I could see a couple of weapons that looked like iron bars. Every one of them seemed to have something in their hands. The first thing, I got a smack on the top of my head."
"I got a few more blows and kicks to every part of me from more than one person," he said. Previously the court heard that Mr O'Reilly was shot dead during the pub brawl in the Finglas pub that evening.
State pathologist Dr John Harbison said the deceased was shot at close range. Mr Justice Butler is expected to send away the jury of seven women and five men to consider their verdict today.