A garda told the Special Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday that she arrested a Dublin man at Dun Laoghaire because she believed he had murdered the journalist Veronica Guerin last year.
Mr Patrick Eugene Holland (58), a native of Dublin with an ad dress at Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, is charged with possession of cannabis for the purposes of sale or supply within the State on a date unknown between October 1st, 1995, and October 6th, 1996. He has pleaded not guilty.
Garda Marion Cusack told the court she arrested Mr Holland after he arrived at the ferryport on April 9th, 1997, on suspicion of having a firearm at the junction of the Naas Road and Boot Road on June 26th, 1996.
Cross-examined by Mr Brendan Grogan SC for Mr Holland, Garda Cusack said: "I had formed the opinion that Patrick Holland was the man who shot dead Veronica Guerin on June 26th, 1996. "I was aware that he was being sought for the murder of Veronica Guerin. When I saw him coming through the port I was of the opinion that he had murdered Veronica Guerin and as a result I arrested him."
Garda Cusack was giving evidence on the opening day of the trial of Mr Holland.
In reply to Mr Grogan, Garda Cusack said she had been told that Mr Holland was probably arriving on the ferry.
The court was told that as a result of the investigation into Ms Guerin's murder, gardai had uncovered a major drugs importation and distribution operation centred on a warehouse at an industrial estate in Dublin.
Detectives found 47 kilos of cannabis at the warehouse with an estimated street value of £470,000, and they believed the warehouse was used for the distribution of huge amounts of the drug.
Garda Cusack, of the Drugs Unit at Store Street, said she and three other gardai were on duty at Dun Laoghaire ferryport on the morning of April 9th. She saw a red Volkswagen Polo car being driven from the ferry by a woman with a male passenger in the front seat and a boy in the back seat.
She went to the passenger and asked his name. When he told her he was Patrick Holland she arrested him under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act on suspicion of having a firearm.
The trial continues today.