A WITNESS told the Central Criminal Court yesterday he saw Mr Brendan O'Donnell in the same car as Imelda Riney. Mr John James Lyons, of Whitegate, Co Clare, said he knew the defendant from when he was a child.
Mr Lyons said he was standing inside the gate of his home 500 yards from Whitegate village around 12.30 p.m. on April 29th, 1994, when he saw a Ford Fiesta going past him. It had a registration TZY and was being driven by a woman with long red hair.
There was a man in the back of the car sitting "with us right hand over the top of the seat", Mr Lyons said. He said that man was the defendant.
The trial has heard that the bodies of Ms Riney and her son were found intertwined in the Cregg Wood area. They had both been shot in the head. Some 950 feet away, the body of Father Joseph Walsh was found. He had also been shot in the head.
Mr Lyons said it was about 12.30 p.m. on April 29th, 1994, when he saw a Ford Fiesta driven past his home. He had seen the car in the area two or three times previously and it was always driven by the same woman.
He said he knew the woman driving the car to see but had never spoken to her. He had seen her in a local man's house. He was shown a photograph of Imelda Riney and laid she was the woman he had seen driving the car.
Pointing to the defendant, he said that was the man he had seen in the back of the Fiesta. Mr Lyons said he had seen Mr O'Donnell about two weeks beforehand.
The witness said he heard a report about missing persons three days later on May 3rd, 1994. It was then he first mentioned seeing the car and its occupants and he had reported the matter to gardai.
Father Christy Glynn said he was the parish priest of Eyrecourt in Co Galway. He said Father Walsh had been a curate in the parish from August 1991 and lived in what is known as the Curate's House. He identified the house from photographs provided to him by the State. Father Glynn said he believed Father Walsh drove a blue Opel Astra car.
He said he had returned from a retreat in Esker around 7.30 p.m. on May 4th, 1994. He telephoned Father Walsh's home to let him know he had returned but there was no reply.
The agenda for that evening involved Father Walsh saying devotions in Clonfert about two miles away at 8 p.m., Father Glynn said.
"I presumed he'd gone to Clonfert," the witness said.
The following morning Father Walsh was to say Mass at 8 a.m. and then to meet Father Glynn at 10 a.m., but he never turned up for either engagement.
"I was worried because normally Father Walsh was a person who always contacted me," the witness said. He thought Father Walsh might have gone to a funeral in Co Tipperary. But later that evening he became more concerned and alerted gardai to the curate's disappearance around 5.30 6 p.m.
Father Glynn was shown a slate grey anorak type jacket with mustard trim. He said the garment looked like an anorak that Father Walsh wore quite often.
Mrs Jane McCormack said she lived at The Mall, Eyrecourt, next door to Father Walsh and knew him well.
She said she saw Father Walsh on May 4th at about 5 p.m. and again after he had conducted devotions in Clonfert. Father Walsh failed to turn up for Mass the allowing day. Mrs McCormack said that when she returned from Mass she did not see his car.
She got the key to his house and went in to see if his bed had been slept in. Mrs McCormack told prosecuting counsel, Mr Kevin Haugh SC, that she noticed the net curtain on the bathroom had been pulled halfway across the window, something Father Walsh would never have done. His bed had not been slept in.
"I had a funny feeling something had happened to him when he didn't come home" she added.
Mrs McCormack said she went into the house again later that day with her daughter in law but Father Walsh was still not there. She noticed that one of the catches on a window at the back of the house was not closed.
Mr Michael Kenny said Father Walsh was at his home on the night of May 3rd, 1994. Father Walsh arrived at the house about 8.30 p.m. and left about 11.30 p.m. He put on an anorak which looked to be either dark blue or black.
Mr Brendan Hogan said he lived at The Mall, Eyrecourt, and had seen Father Walsh going into his home at about 12.30 p.m. on the night of May 3rd 4th. That was the last time he saw the priest, Mr Hogan said.
Garda James Bradley said Father Walsh was reported missing on May 5th. He had gone to the priest's home and was let into the house by Mrs McCormack.
He was shown a bathroom window and a curtain and was told the top of the window had not been secured and the curtain had been pulled back to halfway across the window.
On May 6th, Garda Bradley said, he saw a burned out vehicle at Williamstown Pier near Whitegate. There was a registration number etched on to glass and it was 2 G 2070. He could also make out part of a nine.
He said a number plate was found in water at the harbour and it read 92 G 2070. He was aware that Father Walsh drove an Opel Astra car with the registration 92 G 2070.
Mr Francis Sampson said he farmed near Whitegate and lived with his wife and two daughters. He said he knew the defendant to see.
He was at home on his land on the morning of May 7th, 1994, when he noticed a helicopter overhead. He later met his wife at the house and she was very distressed. He saw his own car being driven out the gateway by his daughter, Fiona.
He saw another person but could not say definitely if it was or was not the defendant. He ran for his jeep and followed the car but lost it. He reported the matter to the gardai.
He was contacted about at 10 a.m. and told his daughter was safe. He noticed glass was broken in a door in his home.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Lavan and the jury.