A man has been found guilty of committing perjury during a high profile murder trial four years ago.
Roy Behan (28), Cherrydale Park, Dublin Road, Limerick, was charged with knowingly and falsely making a false statement at Liam Keane's murder trial at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin in November 2003.
Mr Keane was on trial for the murder of Eric Leamy (19) who was stabbed to death in Lee Estate, Limerick in August 2001.
The trial sensationally collapsed after a number of key prosecution witnesses failed to stand over statements they had made to gardaí in which they identified Mr Keane as the alleged killer. A nolle prosequiwas entered and Mr Keane was freed with his presumption of innocence intact.
Yesterday at Limerick Circuit Court a jury took just under 35 minutes to find Mr Behan guilty of perjury — a charge he had denied. It was the second time his case was heard before the Circuit Criminal Court - earlier this year a jury failed to deliver a verdict after deliberating for several hours.
Roy Behan is the third person to be convicted of charges connected to the collapse of the Liam Keane murder trial. During his retrial, which lasted two days, the jury heard evidence that Mr Behan withdrew a statement he made to gardaí after Eric Leamy died because he feared for his safety and the safety of his family.
Mr Behan claimed that since-murdered crime boss Kieran Keane offered him £30,000 in cash as an inducement not to testify at his nephew's trial and warned him that he would be killed and put into the boot of a car if he didn't withdraw the statement he made to gardaí.
During his charge to the jury yesterday Judge Carroll Moran recalled that they had heard evidence that Roy Behan had made a statement to gardaí on the night his friend Eric Leamy died in which he identified Liam Keane as the person who had stabbed him.
The jury was told that Roy Behan retracted this statement a week later and when he was called to give evidence at Liam Keane's trial he said he couldn't remember making the statement as he was "blacked out from drink and drugs".
The court heard that Mr Behan was a close friend of Eric Leamy's and that he acted as chief pall-bearer at his funeral.
Defence counsel Brian McInerney, in his closing address to the jury, argued that his client had refused to give evidence out of fear for his safety. Mr McInerney referred to the fact that a murder had taken place in Limerick earlier this week despite the presence of armed gardaí, and suggested that even with police protection his client might not have been safe from an organised criminal gang.
Judge Moran adjourned sentencing in the case until October 18th next.