A man suspected of murdering Veronica Guerin said he left the State because of newspaper publicity alleging his involvement in the killing. At the Special Criminal Court yesterday Mr Patrick Eugene Holland also claimed that Charles Bowden had lied in his evidence that Mr Holland had received large amounts of cannabis from him.
Mr Holland (58) claimed he was never interviewed by gardai at Lucan Garda station about drugs and said gardai had lied when claiming he had admitted drug-dealing. He said he had returned to Ireland in April to give himself up. "It is just beyond belief that I would come home for one thing and then admit to something that I would get big time for," he said.
Evidence in the trial finished yesterday and the court will hear final prosecution and defence submissions today.
Mr Holland, a native of Dublin, with an address at Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow, has denied possessing cannabis for the purposes of sale or supply within the State on a date unknown between October 1st, 1995, and October 6th, 1996.
The court has heard that, as a result of the investigation into Ms Guerin's murder, gardai uncovered a major drugs importation and distribution operation centred on a warehouse in a Dublin industrial estate. Detectives found 47kg of cannabis with an estimated street value of £470,000 at the warehouse at Harold's Cross, and they believed the warehouse was used for the distribution of huge amounts of the drug.
Mr Holland spent 50 minutes in the witness box yesterday afternoon. He told his counsel, Mr Brendan Grogan SC, that in 1996 he was concerned about publicity alleging his involvement in Ms Guerin's murder. He went to England and his solicitor there advised him it would cost him £100,000 to take an action against the newspapers in England and he would not get much out of it.
He said he was concerned that if he returned to Ireland his interviews with gardai should be taped because "I didn't trust the guards". He told Mr Grogan he feared he would be "fitted up" unless his interviews were taped.
He said he did not come back to Ireland on April 7th, as he had planned, because he was putting transmitters in his shoes. "I wanted to protect myself," he added.
He travelled on April 8th to Holyhead and arrived at Dun Laoghaire on April 9th. He said when he was taken to Lucan Garda station gardai came into the room where he was held. "It was very relaxed," he said.
He claimed two detectives who came into the room started saying a Hail Mary and said to him to say a prayer for his late mother. He said he was never cautioned before his interviews and was never asked any questions by the detectives. He said no questions were ever put to him about drugs offences and that one garda had told him that when he was released from his Section 30 arrest he would be charged over drugs.
He said he had met Charles Bowden three times - twice at the West County Hotel in Chapelizod and once in London. He said the meetings in Dublin were to discuss an idea he had to help Bowden's hairdressing business. Mr Holland, who had a printing business, said he had the idea of printing promotional flyers and giving them out at Busaras, where they would offer "country women" bargain hairdos. He denied ever taking delivery of the quantities of cannabis specified by Bowden in his evidence, ranging from 10 to 50kg.
Cross-examined by prosecuting counsel Mr Eamonn Leahy SC, Mr Holland said he understood he was going to be "done for drugs". He said he had made a written statement to his solicitor, Ms Elizabeth Ferris, when she visited him at Lucan Garda station, explaining his movements on June 26th, 1996 - the day Veronica Guerin was murdered.
In the statement he said he had travelled from Wicklow to Dublin and had spent the morning in town before going to Crumlin post office to collect his dole money. In the afternoon he collected his wife and sister-in-law at a hairdresser's in Bray and had returned to Co Wicklow. He said he was never questioned about drugs and was never shown any exhibits, as gardai had told the court.
Questioned about the nickname "The Wig", Mr Holland said he did not accept that he was known by that name. "It's possible that people called me that behind my back. I wore it in prison," he said. He said he had worn a wig for years and he thought it looked all right. He said he was never friendly with Charles Bowden and did not know that Bowden referred to him as "The Wig" until he read it in Bowden's statement.
When it was put to him that detectives from the Criminal Assets Bureau had mentioned drugs to him during an interview at Lucan, Mr Holland replied: "That's a damn lie. If I had a taped interview this would not happen."
He said all gardai did was "talk and say prayers". "I know it's hard to believe, I know that I am not going to be believed, but I am telling what happened." Mr Holland said he never took delivery of any cannabis from Bowden and added: "I said nothing to gardai. Why didn't they tape the interview? This would never have happened. I made a mistake and shouldn't have come home."
Earlier, Det Garda James Hanley said that during interviews at Lucan in April Mr Holland said: "I am a practical man. I know when I'm caught." Later he said: "Believe it or not, I was going to give myself up."