Mr Tom Nevin died from a shotgun blast delivered at a range as close as one yard, the Central Criminal Court has been told. Witnesses yesterday told of different sightings of Mr Nevin's car, which was used as a getaway vehicle by his killers, on the morning of the Wicklow pub murder. Mrs Catherine Nevin (48) has denied murdering her husband Thomas (Tom) Nevin (54) on March 19th, 1996, in their home at Jack White's Inn, Ballinapark, near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow.
She has also denied soliciting Mr John Jones, Mr Gerry Heapes and Mr William McClean to murder her husband.
The jury has heard that Mr Nevin died during what the prosecution alleges was a botched robbery designed to conceal a contract killing carried out at his wife's behest. Mrs Nevin was tied up during the robbery in which more than £15,000 was taken.
In the Central Criminal Court yesterday, evidence in open court was interrupted twice for legal argument, heard by Ms Justice Carroll in the absence of the jury.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, who will conclude his evidence today, said Mr Nevin died from "acute oxygen lack to his brain because of the instant circulation loss caused by a massive shotgun blast to the heart".
A single discharge of the shotgun into the right side of his chest resulted in six "very large" pellets crossing his chest through the lungs and heart, he said. The discharge was consistent with 12-bore ammunition, but the pellets were not the normal sporting type.
He said he found none of the normal "satelliting" associated with shotgun fire, where the pellets travel in a conical spray, leaving some in satellite positions away from the centre of the spray. This suggested "a rather close-range discharge of the weapon", which he put at two yards "as the outer limit".
He suggested the close range could be "within a yard or thereabouts, or less, even".
The shot hit Mr Nevin just below the armpit on his right chest, creating a wound 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
"These are large pellets with considerable penetrating power, used for hunting larger game," Dr Harbinson said.
The pellets had cut through the right lung and the base of the heart, damaging the right and left atrium and the ventricles, which were "both severely lacerated".
They had then begun to scatter within the body. There were four exit wounds in the left side of the back, the largest a half-inch in diameter. Two pellets were found beneath the skin, two were never located and the remaining two were found outside the body.
Dr Harbinson said blood and urine samples suggested an alcohol intake of two to three pints of beer. He said he found some evidence of coronary heart disease, but added that "heart-wise, he at least had years before him, had he lived".
He also told the court that gardai showed him traces of bloodstains in the converted attic of the house, in a wash basin, on a doorframe and also on a low attic ceiling.