A man fired shots into a car carrying a couple and a four-year-old child in an attempted murder in 1996, a Central Criminal Court jury was told yesterday. The girlfriend of a man the State says was the intended victim was injured in the attack, which followed a car chase around a housing estate in Ballyfermot.
The prosecution was opening its case in the trial of Mr John Reilly (28), of Lower Wellington Street, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to six counts relating to the attempted murder of Mr John Alford (34), of Ballyfermot Parade, Dublin.
The State alleges that Mr Reilly shot at Mr Alford with intent to murder him while Mr Alford was in a car with his girlfriend, Ms Violet Power Blackburn, and her child at Ballyfermot Drive on December 11th, 1996.
Mr Reilly is also charged with maliciously shooting Ms Blackburn (30), of the same address at Ballyfermot Parade, with intent to do grievous bodily harm. A bullet grazed her right forearm and lodged in her knee.
Mr Reilly is further charged with having a handgun and ammunition with intent to endanger life. He denies all the charges.
Mr Gregory Murphy SC, prosecuting, told the jury Mr Alford was shot at from point-blank range. Mr Alford's Volkswagen car was pursued by a BMW moments before the attack.
A number of witnesses told the court that four people in the BMW were wearing balaclavas.
The BMW repeatedly rammed the back of the Volkswagen. When it stopped, a gunman emerged and shot at Mr Alford.
The prosecution alleges the gunman was Mr Reilly.
The State's case hinged on admissions made by Mr Reilly while he was in custody, Mr Murphy said. The gun was not recovered and there was no corroborative evidence but, he claimed, "it is the strongest possible case" because of Mr Reilly's own admissions, made after he had spoken to a solicitor.
Mr Alford told the jury he was driving to his sister's house at around 10 p.m. on December 11th when his car was shunted forward by a BMW pushing into the back of it.
He mounted a footpath on Ballyfermot Drive to stop the ramming, he said.
His car came to a halt on the footpath, and the BMW stopped beside it on the road. A man stepped out of the rear door at the passenger side of the BMW and stepped forward with a gun, aiming it at him.
Mr Alford said he saw two flashes of the gun as it fired, and he believed there was another shot moments later.
Ms Violet Blackburn, whose married name was Violet Power, said she was just beginning a relationship with Mr Alford when the incident happened. Her four-year-old daughter was in the back of the Volkswagen.
She said that shots were fired from the BMW as it hit the Volkswagen. "There was one of them leaning out of the window shooting at us," she said.
"I kneeled up in my car seat and I leant back and pushed her down on to the car floor," she said of her daughter.
The gunman who stepped from the back passenger side of the car wore black, she said, and she "supposed" he had a balaclava on. She could see him clearly and was sure he could see her.
The gunman stood in front of the driver's side of the car and pointed the gun "at John's direction, more or less, I'd say. He just pointed it forward," she said.
The court heard that Mr Alford then tried to drive on before his Volkswagen veered across the road and hit the gate of a house.
Ms Blackburn and the child got out, and Mr Alford took off again in the direction the BMW had gone.
Ms Blackburn told Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending, that as far as she was concerned "before this it was a perfectly ordinary evening".
Mr Alford had not mentioned anything happening the previous week, she said.
Mr Peter Keogh, of Shancastle Lawns, Clondalkin, said he was cycling to his grandmother's house when he saw the car ramming and heard three shots. As he moved closer, a man was running down from the scene, wearing a balaclava and holding a gun in his left hand.
The man switched the gun to his right hand and crossed over to him, holding the gun up and telling him to get off his bicycle.
The gunman then cycled up towards Kylemore Avenue, and the BMW picked him up again before driving off at high speed.
Under cross-examination by Mr Gageby, Mr Keogh agreed he had described the gunman as being about six feet tall and the gun barrel as being "about a foot long". It occurred to him at the time that the man had "a Northern accent".
Det Sgt Seamus Quinn of the ballistics section of the Garda Technical Bureau said he noted tyre marks on Ballyfermot Drive with a total distance of 100 yards.
The bullet lodged in Ms Violet Blackburn's knee was .45 inch calibre ammunition, he said. It was fired either from a .45 inch revolver or a .45 inch pistol.
Det Sgt Quinn agreed with Mr Gageby that in a statement he made on September 16th, 1998, he said the bullet found in Ms Blackburn's knee was "consistent with pistol ammunition".
Following yesterday's evidence, Mr Justice Smith sent the jury away until Thursday afternoon while legal argument takes place.