The man accused of murdering the journalist Veronica Guerin told the Special Criminal Court yesterday he had collected £3 million in cash for the leader of a drugs gang. Mr Paul Ward also said the murder of Ms Guerin was "a horrible crime".
Mr Ward (34), a native of Crumlin, Dublin, with an address at Walkinstown Road, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Guerin, a 36-year-old mother of one, at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, on June 26th, 1996.
The prosecution has claimed Mr Ward was a member of the gang that planned and carried out the killing and that he disposed of the murder weapon and a motorcycle afterwards.
Cross-examined by prosecuting counsel Mr Peter Charleton, Mr Ward denied he had ever been in the "lock-up" at Greenmount Industrial Estate in Harold's Cross where gardai discovered a major cannabis distribution operation.
He said he was aware the cannabis was stored in Harold's Cross but did not know the exact location. Mr Ward said he used to collect money from his clients in the car-parks of two pubs in the Walkinstown area and that he used to carry the money in plastic shopping bags, up to £20,000 on one occasion.
Mr Ward said he had a hidden compartment in his bedroom where he kept the money and gardai had failed to find it until they raided his bungalow a second time and knocked down the panels. He agreed he had collected up to £3 million in cash in one year and also that most of this money was sent on to the gang leader, who cannot be named by order of the court.
He said he had no idea how the man spent the money he made from the cannabis operation. He said he had visited an equestrian centre owned by the man in Co Meath and had taken his daughter there to learn to ride horses because the man's wife knew a lot about horses.
He agreed with Mr Charleton that the gang leader "trusted" him, but did not agree that he and the man had a lot to lose if the leader went to jail because of an assault case involving Veronica Guerin.
Asked by Mr Charleton what his reaction was to the murder he said: "I felt it was a horrible crime for anyone to get killed, for anyone to get shot in circumstances like that." He said he would agree with the State witness, Charles Bowden, that it was "crazy" to murder Ms Guerin.
"I think it would be crazy for anyone to kill a woman to save themselves from going down for six months." He again blamed Charles Bowden for him being accused of the murder and added that Bowden had been "partly telling the truth and partly telling lies". He denied getting rid of the gun or motorcycle used in the murder and said neither was in his house on the day Veronica Guerin was killed.
Mr Ward said he had not seen the gang leader in the aftermath of the killing, but had spoken to him on the phone, and he also admitted he spoke to several other named men - alleged to be members of the gang. He said he had read that the man named as the gang leader was the "main suspect" for the Guerin murder in the newspapers and agreed that the gang members had discussed the killing afterwards. He said the leader had said he had nothing to do with the killing, and other gang members had also denied any part in the murder.
He agreed that the collapse of a "multi-million-pound drugs empire" would be one reason Ms Guerin was shot, but said he knew nothing about the shooting. He also said he did not know the type of journalism Ms Guerin was involved in and added: "The woman never stood out in my mind. Paul Williams, I'd know what he is about. The man is never out of the papers."
Mr Ward agreed there had been 19 phone calls between his mobile phone and a man suspected by gardai of being one of the killers on June 26th, 1996, the day Ms Guerin was murdered. He said he could not remember if calls on the morning of the shooting were connected with drug-dealing or about arranging for his girlfriend's son to go to school.
Mr Ward's girlfriend, Ms Vanessa Meehan, told defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee SC she had been going out with him since she was 17 and had moved into his house in Walkinstown Road when she turned 20 in May 1996. She said she suspected Mr Ward was taking heroin when she noticed symptoms such as him losing weight.
Ms Meehan said she had tried to get her boyfriend off heroin but he had gone back on it. The trial continues on Monday.