A detective sergeant in the Special Criminal Court yesterday pointed to the accused man and said he was the man who shot dead a young uniformed garda in Dublin 18 years ago.
Sgt Patrick O'Brien told the court that he recognised the accused, a Belfast man, Mr Sean Hughes, as the man he saw holding a gun when he saw two flashes as shots were fired.
Sgt O'Brien was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of Mr Hughes for the capital murder of Garda Patrick Reynolds, who was shot at a flat in Tallaght, Co Dublin.
Mr Sean "Bap" Hughes (42), of Albert Terrace, Belfast, denies the murder of Garda Reynolds (23), at Avonbeg Gardens, Tallaght, on February 20th, 1982. The charge carries a mandatory sentence of 40 years' imprisonment on conviction. He also denies the robbery of £62,100 from a bank at Askeaton, Co Limerick, on February 18th, 1982, receiving stolen cash and unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition with intent to endanger life in Tallaght on February 20th, 1982.
Sgt O'Brien told the court that he went to a flat in Tallaght attended to a flat in Tallaght following an anonymous telephone call. He saw Garda Reynolds on the landing outside 33 Avonbeg Gardens and another man holding a gun. "I saw Garda Reynolds turn to come down the steps and I saw two flashes," he said.
Sgt O'Brien claimed he saw the man with the gun later run out of the building and into a nearby car and make off. "I was looking directly at them, my lords, and I recognised the man who got into the driver's car," he said. "I had a full facial view of him, straight on."
He also told the court that while on surveillance duty in collusion with the French police in Paris on November 6th later that year, he spotted the same man outside a railway station. This was the accused man in the dock.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, told the court that Garda Reynolds died from shock and haemorrhaging from a bullet wound in the heart and left lung, entering from the back.
Garda William Brennan told the court that when he entered the flat near to where Garda Reynolds was shot dead he saw firearms, ammunition and a hold-all containing a large amount of cash.
Four weapons were later presented to the court, including two semi-automatics, an Armalite rifle and a Storm Lugger.
Previously the court heard that Garda Reynolds fell mortally wounded in the hallway of the local authority flats after he was shot by a gunman standing on the first-floor landing.
Mr Eamonn Leahy SC, prosecuting, said previously it was the State's case that half an hour after cash was delivered to the Bank of Ireland in Askeaton on the morning of February 18th, 1982, a group of armed men entered the bank, held up staff and escaped with £62,100.
Less than two days later, after an anonymous phone call, five gardai from Tallaght went to local authority flats at Avonbeg Gardens.
Garda Reynolds and Sgt Patrick O'Brien took up position at the rear of the flats while the three other gardai went to a first-floor flat and forced an entrance. Inside they met a man and two women, and when they heard movement in the bathroom they went in and saw three men handling a large sum of money. The gardai also saw a number of guns, including a submachine-gun, on the bathroom floor.
The State alleges that the money in the bathroom was the proceeds of the bank robbery at Askeaton. Gardai drew their batons and a serious struggle ensued in the bathroom.
During the struggle one man succeeded in grabbing one of the guns from the floor and two shots were fired, one of which went through the baton of Garda Thomas Quinn. Garda Reynolds died from shock and haemorrhage due to a single shot in the back.
The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Morris, presiding.