A detective denied at the Special Criminal Court yesterday that he had tried to "stitch" Mr Brian Meehan into the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin.
Det Garda James Hanley said the suggestion by Mr John McCrudden QC, for Mr Meehan, that he had "nurtured and cultivated" State witness Russell Warren to stitch Mr Meehan into the murder was "outrageous."
Warren has said Mr Meehan collected a stolen bike from him to use in the murder and that he was in touch with him by mobile phone on the day of the killing.
It was the 22nd day of the trial of Mr Meehan (34), of no fixed abode, and formerly of Clifton Court, Dublin and Stanaway Road, Crumlin, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Guerin, (36) at Naas Road, Clondalkin. He is also pleading not guilty to charges of importing cannabis resin between 1994 and 1996, and having cannabis resin for sale or supply.
He has also pleaded not guilty to having a Sten submachine gun, silencer barrel, two magazines, a 9mm Agram machine pistol, five Walther semi-automatic pistols, four magazines and 1,057 rounds of ammunition.
Det Garda Hanley said he had taken statements from Russell Warren and Charles Bowden when they were suspects in the Guerin murder investigation. They are in the Witness Protection Programme and have given evidence for the State in the trial.
Cross-examined by Mr McCrudden, Det Garda Hanley said he had weekly 15-minute meetings with Bowden in a car in the Phoenix Park in late 1996. Bowden told him about the plans and activities of other gang members, most of whom had fled the jurisdiction. Assistant Commissioner Tony Hickey said he applied to Eircell in 1996 for details about mobile phone billing, incoming and outgoing calls and subscriber details. He applied for details relating to Mr Meehan, Warren, the drugs gang leader, Mr A, another gang member, Mr D, and another man. He said the billing details were required to corroborate statements dealing with serious crime.
Mr Hickey admitted to Mr Michael O'Higgins, defending, that the application was an internal memo sent to a senior colleague.
Asked if it was an application to a telephone company, the Assistant Commissioner replied no and he said it would have been improper to disclose the letter to the telephone company because it contained sensitive information. The defence is objecting to the admissibility of evidence relating to a number of mobile phones in the case.
The trial resumes on Monday.
A judge has criticised prison officials for bringing Paul Ward, the man convicted of murdering journalist Veronica Guerin, to Dublin Circuit Criminal Court despite his earlier order not to do so.
Judge Kieran O'Connor said he had no hesitation in saying the decision to bring Ward and his co-accused in the Mountjoy Jail siege case, Warren Dumbrell, was a mistake.
Ward (36) of Walkinstown Road, Walkinstown and Dumbrell (25) of Emmet Road, Inchicore, had pleaded guilty to falsely imprisoning a prison officer during the Mountjoy Jail siege on January 4th-6th, 1997.
The hearing had been arranged some weeks ago to decide sentence dates for the offence and Judge O'Connor had made an order excluding their attendance. However, Ward and Dumbrell were brought to the court from Portlaoise Prison under heavy armed security.
Judge O'Connor confirmed his order that Ward and Dumbrell were excluded from the hearing. He fixed Ward's sentencing date as July 19th, and Dumbrell's as November 8th.