Protected witness Charles Bowden told the Special Criminal Court that he cleaned and loaded the Magnum revolver used in the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin the day before the killing.
Bowden who is serving a six years jail sentence for drugs and firearms offences and who is in the Witness Protection Programme said he was instructed to load the gun on June 25th, 1996 by Brian Meehan, who is currently serving a life sentence for the Guerin murder.
Bowden told prosecuting counsel Mr Eamonn Leahy SC that he was instructed to load the Magnum .357 revolver and leave it in a lock up at Greenmount Industrial Estate in Harold's Cross which was used by the drugs gang of which he was a member.
Bowden said he loaded the gun with six bullets and left six spare bullets with the gun n a table in the lock up. He said the bullets had concave heads and did not come to a point like normal bullets.
He said the gun had been taken from a grave at a Jewish cemetery at Oldcourt Road in Tallaght where he stored weapons and ammunition which arrived with consignments of cannabis resin from Holland.
Bowden said that a man, who cannot be named by order of the court, brought the gun from the grave to the lock up and he cleaned and loaded it in the lock up.
He said he never saw the gun again but the six spare bullets were still in the lock up when he went there the day after the murder.
He also said that there was black leather Versace jacket belonging to Brian Meehan in the lock up along with other clothes after the murder. Bowden told Mr Justice Diarmuid O' Donovan, presiding, that he had qualified as a sniper during his six years in the Army and had been trained in the use of semi automatic pistols, rifles and submachine guns.
Bowden identified murder accused Mr John Gilligan in court as the man he met and who he spoke to by phone about the drugs and weapons consignments.
The trial resumes next Tuesday.