A Dublin man was convicted at the Special Criminal Court yesterday of having cannabis for sale or supply. Patrick Holland, whom gardai suspect of murdering journalist Veronica Guerin, was remanded in custody and will be sentenced today.
He smiled and gave a brief nod after Mr Justice Johnson, presiding at the three-judge non-jury court, said the court found him guilty of the drugs offence.
It was the seventh day of the trial of Patrick Eugene Holland (58), with an address at Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, who denied having cannabis for sale or supply within the State on a date unknown between October 1st, 1995 and October 6th, 1996.
The court was told that as a result of the Guerin murder inquiry, gardai uncovered a major drugs importation and distribution operation centred on a warehouse at an industrial estate at Harold's Cross in Dublin.
Detectives found 47kg of cannabis there valued at about £470,000 and believed the warehouse was used for the distribution of huge amounts of the drug.
Garda Marion Cusack, who arrested Holland at Dun Laoghaire last April, said she believed he was the man who shot dead Veronica Guerin at the Naas Road on June 26th, 1996.
During the seven-day trial, Charles Bowden, the first person to give evidence under the witness protection programme, said he had been at the centre of the cannabis distribution operation.
Bowden identified Holland as the man he knew as "The Wig" and said he had supplied him with consignments of cannabis for several months, ranging from 20kg to 50kg and averaging 35kg at one stage.
But Holland, in evidence, denied he had ever received cannabis and claimed Bowden had lied and that gardai had also lied about alleged admissions he made while in custody.
Mr Justice Johnson, delivering the court's verdict, said Bowden had given evidence that he used a premises at Harold's Cross to store and distribute cannabis. Bowden said that in mid- to late 1995 he met Holland, who was accompanied by another person, and Holland said: "That's my man." An unnamed person with Bowden then went to the car park where he handed over cannabis to the man with Holland. "We are conscious that it is dangerous to convict on the uncorroborated evidence of an accomplice," the judge said, but he added that there was corroborating evidence from the admissions made by Holland.
The judge said that Holland gave evidence that he was never questioned about drugs, never cautioned, no notes were taken and that a garda had told him he would be "done for drugs".
"The court does not accept the evidence of the accused relating to the interviews and does not find that it might be reasonably true," the judge said. The court accepted the evidence of Det Sgt Fergus Treanor that Holland had acknowledged he was the person known as "The Wig" and that that name had been found on lists containing, names, letters and numbers at the lock-up.
The court also accepted that when Holland had been asked about 35kg of cannabis he replied: "Look lads, I have my own customers and I am not going to implicate them."
The judge said there were many other items of corroboration in the evidence which the court did not intend to list in the judgment.
He said the court had listened to and considered all the evidence in the trial and was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that the prosecution had proved Holland had large amounts of cannabis resin and that he had the drug for sale or supply and accordingly the court found him guilty of the offence.
Earlier in his closing speech, Mr Eamonn Leahy SC, prosecuting, said the prosecution case rested on two "separate and distinct pillars of evidence": the evidence of Charles Bowden, and the evidence of various gardai about admissions made by Holland while in custody.
Mr Leahy accepted that Bowden must be regarded as an accomplice and that by his own evidence he had supplied " a very significant quantity of cannabis" to Holland.
He said that while the court must be aware of the dangers of accomplice evidence there was other evidence which corroborated his evidence.
"It is capable, individually and collectively, of amounting to evidence that would ground a conviction," he said.
Mr Brendan Grogan SC, defending, said Charles Bowden had "ulterior motives" in giving evidence against Holland. He said Bowden was holding out for immunity from prosecution for the murder of Veronica Guerin before he gave his evidence.
Mr Grogan said the book of evidence had been received in July but Bowden had not been proposed as a witness until October.
"The times are capable of supporting the contention that Mr Bowden was holding out and hedging his bets."
He said the court must not only look at Bowden's evidence as that of an accomplice but also at the nature of his own involvement as " a senior man" in drugs distribution.
Mr Grogan also said there were inconsistencies about Garda evidence concerning alleged admissions made by Holland about his involvement in drugs dealing.
He said Holland's main concern was to avoid fabrication of evidence against him and he had demanded the recording of interviews with the gardai.
He said there was no evidence to support a conviction against his client.