A niece of the man accused of murdering Veronica Guerin told the Special Criminal Court yesterday that she was at his home the day the journalist was killed, and no one had called to the house that day.
Ms Natasha Madden admitted that she had taken Physeptone and heroin that day and also admitted that the evening before she had consumed a "cocktail" of heroin, Physeptone and Rohypnol sleeping tablets.
Ms Madden said she was "strung out" on heroin in June 1996 when Mr Paul Ward, her uncle, had brought her to his bungalow in Walkinstown Road to "detox" her. She admitted under cross-examination that she could not remember much about that time in her life.
Mr Ward (34), with an address at Walkinstown Road, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the Guerin murder at the 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 disposed of the murder weapon and a motorcycle afterwards when the killers called to his house.
Ms Madden (22) told defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee SC she had been a heroin addict since she was 15 or 16 and had been living "on the street" when her uncle, Mr Ward, found her in Pimlico on June 25th, 1996, the day before the Guerin murder. She said that she had stolen a clock from her grandmother, Mr Ward's mother, to buy heroin and that he "gave me a box and dragged me into the car".
He took her to his bungalow in Walkinstown Road to "detox" her and there she met his girlfriend, Ms Vanessa Meehan. Ms Madden said she slept there that night and woke up the next day, but could not be sure of the time. She said Mr Ward and Ms Meehan were there and did not leave the house while she was there.
She said she kept "goofing off" (napping) after she was given Physeptone, a heroin substitute, by Mr Ward. She also had heroin which she had hidden from the day before and she took it.
"I was just stoned," she said. "Just dozing off and waking back up and eventually dozing off again." Ms Madden said she, Mr Ward and Ms Meehan had watched television that day. She said no one had visited the house that day. She added that Mr Ward gave her Physeptone and sleeping tablets called Rohypnol to "detox" her from the heroin.
Cross-examined by Mr Tom O'Connell, for the State, Ms Madden said she was spending about £75 a day or £500 a week on her heroin addiction. She injected five "bags" or "quarters" of heroin a day, two in the morning, one in the evening and two at night.
She said she had had two "quarters" of heroin in her mouth when Mr Ward had dragged her into his car and she had taken the heroin and a syringe with her to his bungalow. Asked by Mr O'Connell if she could remember very much about this time, Ms Madden replied: "No."
She said that on June 25th, the night before the Guerin murder, Paul had given her 100 millitres of Physeptone and one or two Rohypnol sleeping pills. She also said she had taken heroin earlier that day and was stoned when Mr Ward met her in Pimlico.
Comdt Dennis Reidy gave evidence that the State witness, Charles Bowden, was in the 5th Infantry Battalion from August 1983 until August 1989 and had been court-martialled in March 1988 for assaulting a number of soldiers. Bowden was discharged in 1989 and his conduct assessment was "unsatisfactory."
Earlier Mr Jonathan Spencer, a ballistics expert for the defence, said he had gone to Garda Headquarters in May and September this year to examine some of the evidence. Mr Spencer said Det Sgt Patrick Ennis told him he had been instructed not to assist him and had refused to answer his questions. Mr Spencer said this had limited and inhibited his examination of the evidence.
He told the court that from his examination of the bullets taken from the murder scene and from Ms Guerin's body he concluded they were "semi-wadcutters" which gave a clean, neat hole when used in target shooting. The trial continues today when the defence evidence is expected to conclude.