A CENTRAL Criminal Court jury has begun deliberating in the trial of a 21-year-old Limerick man charged with murdering a man in the city four years ago in a case of mistaken identity. Jonathan Fitzgerald, South Claughan Road, Garryowen, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Noel Crawford on December 18th, 2006.
Mr Crawford was shot dead outside his parents’ home in O’Malley Park, Southill, in the early hours of his 40th birthday.
Both the prosecution and the defence have said that the killing was likely a case of mistaken identity. They agreed that the victim’s brother, Paul Crawford, was probably the intended target. The trial heard that Paul Crawford had just left his brother’s side to answer his phone when the shot was fired.
The prosecution’s case is that the defendant believed Paul Crawford was involved in kidnapping his sister, Jennifer Fitzgerald, earlier that morning and that this provided motive.
The defence has argued that Paul Crawford had many enemies, that there had been previous attempts on his life and that it was someone else who fired the shot.
Mr Justice Barry White told the jury of five women and seven men to forget the question of who the intended victim was.
“Mistaken identity or shooting at one individual, missing and hitting another, does not absolve someone from responsibility,” he said in his charge.
He read out the definition of murder, which says a person is guilty if he or she “intended to kill, or cause serious injury to, some person, whether the person actually killed or not”. He said: “Forget that it was perhaps the intention to kill Paul Crawford and that Noel Crawford ended up the unfortunate victim in deciding whether it was murder or not.
“I don’t think anyone is suggesting in this case that Noel Crawford was not murdered,” he added.
The jury deliberated for about an hour yesterday and will resume its deliberations on Monday.