A Dublin father of five shot dead on St Stephen's Day two years ago was killed in revenge for an earlier assault, a murder trial jury at the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
It was the opening day of the trial of Mr Shay Wildes (35), Corbally Park, Blessington Road, Tallaght, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Joseph Cummins (48), Donomore Crescent, Tallaght, on December 26th, 2001, at High Street, Tallaght. Mr Wildes also pleaded not guilty to possession in suspicious circumstances of a .22 Beresa handgun, seven rounds of .22 calibre ammunition and five rounds of .38 calibre ammunition at Corbally Park, Tallaght, on the same date.
Mr Tom O'Connell SC, prosecuting, said Mr Cummins was shot once in the back of the head at close range shortly after he had left the nearby Dragon Inn.
The court heard Mr Wildes and Mr Cummins had spent some time in the pub drinking separately.
Counsel said a further two shots were fired at Mr Cummins as he lay on the ground. Eyewitnesses described a blue Peugeot driving away from the scene and one eyewitness wrote down the car registration number. Gardaí found it was registered to the accused's partner, Ms Valerie Reid, at Corbally Park, Tallaght, where the accused also lived.
During a search of the house later that night, gardaí found a semi-automatic .22 handgun and several rounds of ammunition.
Counsel said it was the State's case that Mr Wildes shot the deceased and the motive appeared to be a revenge attack. Mr O'Connell said the accused believed that the dead man had assaulted his [the accused's] sister two years earlier, although this alleged assault was never reported to the Garda.
In evidence, witness Mr Philip Fitzachery told the court he was in the Dragon Inn on the day of the killing and spoke to the victim. The witness said a man he did not know came up to him in the pub and inquired how well he knew Mr Cummins.
Cross-examined by Mr Anthony Sammon SC, defending, the witness agreed that the man mentioned he did "balaclava jobs with Joe years ago". The witness agreed with counsel that Mr Cummins told the man "to shut the f . . . up".
The witness told the jury that Mr Cummins went to the toilet and when he returned "he was in an awful state . . . he was white in the face".
The trial continues today.