THE JURY in the trial of a man accused of a fatal shooting on the Clontarf Road four years ago has heard fingerprints matching the accused were found on a bag containing the murder weapon.
The court earlier heard that a blue Peugeot 307 was abandoned on Furry Park Road on the night of the shooting, and a Glock semi-automatic pistol was found in a paper bag in the vehicle. A ballistics expert earlier told the jury he was satisfied that the weapon had been used to shoot Noel Roche.
Craig White (23), of O’Devaney Gardens, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Noel Roche (27) on Clontarf Road on November 15th, 2005. Mr Roche was found shot dead in the passenger seat of a Ford Mondeo.
Det Garda Ray Kane from the Garda fingerprint section told Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, that he found three fingerprints and one thumb print on the paper bag and compared them to prints taken from Mr White. He said he had no doubt that the finger marks found on the bag matched the accused’s prints.
Det Garda Kane took fingerprints from Mr White at Raheny Garda station on December 5th, 2005 following the accused’s arrest and detention. Det Garda Kane matched Mr White’s right thumb, left little finger, right forefinger and right middle finger to the marks he took from the bag.
Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending, Det Garda Kane accepted that in statements he made in April 2006 and May 2008 he said he had identified the thumb print as belonging to Mr White, but was of the view that the other three prints did not reach standards of evidence.
Det Garda Kane said he was never in doubt the finger marks were the accused’s, but said the usual standard for court presentation was that at least 12 points of the prints needed to match. He said he knew permission must be given by the Director of Public Prosecutions to depart from this.
Det Garda Kane agreed he searched the Automated Fingerprint Identification System (AFIS) using a thumb print from the bag on November 17th, 2005 and that Mr White came up. Det Garda Kane agreed no prints were found on the pistol which was inside the bag, and that Mr White’s prints were not found in or on the Peugeot 307 other than on the bag.
The witness agreed he could not tell when Mr White handled the bag. He accepted that prints could persist for years. He accepted that the presence of prints did not necessarily mean Mr White put the gun in the bag. Nor could he say Mr White put the bag in the car.
He could not exclude the possibility that other people, perhaps wearing gloves, handled the bag.
The trial will continue before Mr Justice George Birmingham in the absence of the jury today. The jury has been instructed to return on Friday morning.