Journalist Veronica Guerin tried to defend herself from her killer's bullets, the Special Criminal Court was told yesterday. The Dublin court was told that Ms Guerin was shot six times by the pillion passenger on a motorbike who emptied the contents of a .357 Magnum revolver into her body as she sat at traffic lights.
Her wounds showed that she appeared to be trying to defend herself and she was shot twice in the back as she reached for the passenger side of her car.
The court also heard that a Dublin man, Mr Paul Ward, whose nickname is "Hippo", disposed of the murder weapon which has never been recovered and also the motorbike used in the killing.
Mr Peter Charleton SC, prosecuting, said while Mr Ward was not one of the actual killers he acted as part of a "common design" to kill or seriously injure the journalist.
He said Mr Ward was part of a gang involved in the importation and distribution of cannabis, cocaine and firearms and had taken part in discussions about Ms Guerin. The court would hear from Charles Bowden, currently under the Witness Protection Programme, that Mr Ward had "dumped" the murder weapon after the killing.
The court ruled that the names of five members of the criminal gang should not be published.
It was the opening day of the trial of the first man to be charged with Ms Guerin's murder. Mr Ward (33), with an address at Walkinstown Road, Dublin, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Guerin at the Naas Road, Clondalkin, Co Dublin, on June 26th, 1996.
Opening the case, Mr Charleton said, in what appeared to be a contract killing, two men on a motorbike pulled up beside Ms Guerin, one of them smashed a window and emptied the contents of a weapon into her.
He said it was the prosecution case that Mr Ward was not one of the men on the motorbike but was complicit in the murder, knew what was going to happen and assisted the killers in planning the killing and disposing of evidence.
Mr Charleton said in 1991 a gang began distributing cannabis around the Dublin area. In 1994, Bowden was invited by another named man to get involved in the distribution of the cannabis. He went on holiday to US in 1995. When Bowden came back in late 1995, he rented a lock-up premises at the Greenmount Industrial Estate in Harold's Cross and resumed his activities.
Mr Charleton said the gang involved five men, including the defendant and Bowden, and profits from the sale of the cannabis were split five ways. However, it later became clear that another man was also involved. When gardai searched the Harold's Cross premises on October 6th, 1996, they found 47 kilos of cannabis.
He said the lock-up was also central to the murder of Ms Guerin and the gun used in her murder was brought to the premises, cleaned and loaded by Bowden and taken by the persons involved in what subsequently happened to Ms Guerin.
He said apart from drugs, a large quantity of guns and ammunition was imported by the gang. Gardai searched a Jewish cemetery at Oldcourt Road, Tallaght, on October 6th, 1996. They found a hollow in a grave in which guns and ammunition were stored.
Bowden would say that four consignments of munitions were brought in. The first consignment in 1995 consisted of two sub-machine guns and 400 rounds of ammunition. He would say that he and two other men drove to the Jewish graveyard and put the guns in the grave.
The second consignment consisted of five 9 mm semi-automatic pistols and the third, in January 1996, consisted of a submachine gun, a .357 Magnum revolver and 12 brass-cased "reloaded" bullets.
Mr Charleton said pieces of bullets removed from Ms Guerin's body and from her car were similar in weight and calibre to bullets found by gardai in the arms dump.
He said Bowden would tell the court of three discussions leading up to the murder. The prosecution would say that Mr Ward was involved in the discussions about the role he would have to play.
The first took place in late May or June 1996, and was about a problem between Ms Guerin and one of the gang. This concerned a court case where the gang member was charged with assaulting Ms Guerin. Mr Ward was present when this gang member was upset about this and said he was not going to prison and was not going to let Ms Guerin "get away with this".
The second discussion took place in car at the Strawberry Beds, Dublin, in early June in which Bowden, Mr Ward and two other men were present and Ms Guerin was discussed. One of the men asked where the .357 Magnum was and Bowden said he did not know. The men said they would go to the graveyard and check it.
The third discussion took place in the week before the murder and involved Bowden, the accused and three other men who discussed having Ms Guerin followed and watched when she went to Naas court.
On June 25th, Bowden cleaned the .357 Magnum and loaded it with six of the "reloaded" bullets which were similar to the ones found at the graveyard.
On June 26th, Ms Guerin attended Naas court and drove back to Dublin on the dual-carriageway. Shortly before 1 p.m., Ms Guerin was stopped at traffic lights. The court would hear that a motorcycle with two persons wearing dark clothing and dark helmets drove up beside her car.
A truck driver, Mr Michael Dunne, would tell the court that he saw the two people on the motorbike. He saw the pillion passenger stand up without leaving the pillion seat and smash the driver's window with some kind of implement in his left hand. With his right hand, he drew out a revolver but Mr Dunne heard nothing because his radio was on.
He then put the gun back into his jacket and the motorbike sped off. Mr Dunne saw Ms Guerin's body covered in blood.
Mr Charleton said that the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, would give evidence that bullets had entered Ms Guerin's right arm and chest and there were wounds consistent with her putting up her right hand to defend herself.
Ms Guerin also appeared to reach over and downwards towards the passenger side and she was shot twice in the base of the back and the bullets travelled upwards, penetrating her liver. She died from bleeding and organic shock.
He said Bowden heard of the shooting on RTE news and immediately connected it with the previous discussions. The day after the shooting, he went to the lock-up with one of the gang members and in the lock-up was a black, plastic bag with clothing in it and a leather jacket, and also an earpiece for a mobile phone.
On June 28th, the accused told Bowden that he was "pissed off" because he did not know he was going to have to do anything with the gun. He said that after the shooting, one of the gang members had left the gun with him and told him he had to get rid of it.
Mr Ward told Bowden he had taken the gun with him on a bus and dumped it somewhere and said he was "shitting himself" in case he was caught.
Mr Ward was arrested on October 16th, 1996, and made certain statements while in custody which would be contested, counsel said.
After the opening of the prosecution case, the court heard submissions on statements made by 20 people which the prosecution do not want to be disclosed to the defence. Mr Charleton said some of the documents were relevant to the charge before the court but did not assist the defence. Other documents related to follow-up inquiries concerning drugs and did not impact on the events in the case.
He said the statements were given to gardai in confidence and were traditionally protected by the privilege of informers.
Defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, said justice must not only be done but must also be seen to be done and the defence were being precluded from access to the statements.
Mr Justice Barr said the court would decide on how to deal with the statements today.