A nephew of a Limerick man killed in a gangland shooting two years ago yesterday claimed in court that people have been "out to get him" since the attack.
Mr John McCarthy - a nephew of Eddie Ryan, who was shot dead in the Moose Bar in Limerick - made the claim at Limerick Circuit Court where he was giving evidence against two men charged with shooting at his home with a Kalashnikov AK 47 assault rifle.
Mr Ross Cantillon (21), of St Ita's Street, St Mary's Park, Limerick, and Mr Roy Woodland (20), of Cannon Breen Park, Limerick, are charged with possessing an AK 47 assault rifle and 22 rounds of ammunition on August 23rd last year.
They are also charged with discharging the weapon on the same date and with stealing a motor vehicle.
Mr McCarthy told the court he was sitting in the front garden of his home in Cliodhna Park, Moyross, at 10.30 p.m. last August when his home was attacked by a man armed with a machine gun.
Mr McCarthy said: "A white car came into the avenue and pulled up and then someone starting firing with a machine gun. I saw people in the car but saw no faces."
When asked by Mr John Whelan SC, defending, if he looked at every car that came into the avenue, Mr McCarthy replied:
"Yes, because there are people out to get me. I was expecting this to happened two years before it happened. I know that people are out to get me since they killed my uncle, Eddie Ryan, in the Moose Bar two years ago."
Mr McCarthy said there were a number of young people in the garden with him at the time of the shooting and that his girlfriend and four young children were inside in the house at the time.
His nine-year-old son, David, who was inside the family home at the time, was "a couple of inches away from being killed" in the shooting, he said.
"He (David) was walking down the stairs when the bullets came in the front door and blew a picture off the wall in the hall. He was standing across for this picture at the time."
A car parked outside his house was also damaged by the bullets, he added.
The accused are pleading not guilty to all charges. The trial is due to resume before a jury on Thursday.