The mother of an Army sergeant accused of the murder of another man told a jury at the Central Criminal Court yesterday that she was "frightened" of her son on the night of the fatal incident.
Mrs Helen O'Brien was giving evidence at the trial of her son, Mr Tommy O'Brien (37), of Milltown Estate, Ashbourne, Co Meath, who has denied the murder of Mr Dermot McKeever (20) at the Milltown Estate on January 1st, 2000.
Mrs O'Brien told Mr Paul McDermott SC, for the defence, that the accused man's eyes were glazed and he "looked strange" in the hour prior to the shooting of Mr McKeever. She knew her son suffered from a drink problem, but felt "he had never been this bad".
"I knew he was very drunk, but I had never seen him in such a state," Mrs O'Brien said. She agreed with counsel that she had been very close to her only child, but said that in his later years in the Army he had changed.
Mr O'Brien has also denied the intentional or reckless discharge of a firearm, thereby creating a substantial or serious risk of death or serious harm to Mr Christopher Doran on the same date. He also denies possession of a double-barrelled shotgun, a firearm, with intent to endanger life.
In his closing submission to the jury, Mr Michael Durack SC, for the prosecution, asked them to consider "what possible reason could anyone have for carrying a shotgun and 13 cartridges out of the door of their house in a housing estate?" He claimed that the shot which killed Mr McKeever was aimed "and it was fatal".
Mr McDermott, for the defence, claimed in his closing submission that Mr O'Brien was acting "totally out of character" on the night of the incident. Mr O'Brien's "disjointed, unconnected thoughts and very agitated state" suggested that there was "something more than drunkenness going on here".
Mr McDermott described the accused man as acting like a "toy soldier" in his reference to witnesses' recollection of him walking down the footpath with his shotgun upright against his shoulder. "Does that suggest a man who is in the whole of his capacity to form an intent to kill?" he asked.
Mr Justice Patrick Smith will continue his charge to the jury when the case resumes today.