"GET a doctor, get a doctor," cried Ms Bridie Gordon, when her 76 year old mother collapsed in Galway Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.
There was consternation in court as an ashen-faced Mrs Nonie Gordon slumped forward. her seat at the start of the trial of Mr Pat Gillane.
Minutes later, Mrs Gordon who was to appear as the first.. witness for the prosecution, died apparently from a massive heart attack. The jury was later discharged, and a new date for the trial will be set next week.
Earlier, Mrs Gordon walked by into the crowded courtroom, supporting herself on a walking stick as she made her way to a seat near the door.
She listened carefully as the defendant responded to the charge of soliciting two men to kill his wife, Philomena Gillane, during January, 1994. Philomena Gillane was Mrs Gordon's daughter.
Her body was found in the boot of her Opel Kadett car at Athlone railway station on May 18th, 1994. Then seven months pregnant, she had been stabbed several times in the back and shot.
Dressed respectably in a light blue suit, Mr Pat Gillane stood up straight before the court to answer the charge. "How do you plead?" asked Judge Raymond Groarke. "Not guilty, my Lord," he responded, in a clear, firm voice.
The judge then turned to the business of swearing in the jury. The first juror had just taken her place and was preparing to make her oath when Mrs Gordon collapsed.
Her daughter sobbed and trembled hysterically as the stricken woman was taken from the courtroom by three gardai.
Outside, in the waiting room, Garda Barney Kelly tried to revive Mrs Gordon. Mrs Gordon's daughter in law, Ms Mary Gordon, held Bridie close and tried to calm her. "Bridie, please stop it," she begged.
Then a doctor rushed in and tried to revive the elderly woman.
The ambulance arrived and the patient was wheeled awe on a stretcher. A calmer Bridie went with her mother in the ambulance, while Mary Gordon walked back into the court building, carrying her mother in law's shoe and walking stick.