THE wife of a man shot dead in his Limerick city home denied at the Central Criminal Court yesterday that her memory of the incident was affected by drugs.
Mrs Teresa Kiely said she had not taken LSD or any other drug before the shooting of her husband, Joseph, at their home in O'Malley Park on August 20th, 1995.
Mrs Kiely was being cross examined by Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending, on the second day of the trial of Mr Richard Bermingham (23), also of O'Malley Park, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Kiely, a father of three.
Mrs Kiely agreed she had gone for a walk around midnight, but had forgotten she had done so until yesterday. She denied her forgetfulness was the result of taking drugs. The witness also denied she had seen the defendant and others at that time. She said she had seen Mr Bermingham earlier that night.
The witness said she was not mistaken in telling the court she had seen Mr Bermingham shoot her husband in her home on August 20th, 1995.
She said Mr Bermingham had worn tights or stockings on his head but these did not extend beyond his forehead.
Mr Gageby put to the witness there was no way his client had entered her house that night. Mrs Kiely said Mr Bermingham was there and she saw him.
Yesterday, Mr John Kiely told Mr Patrick Marrinan, prosecuting, he was living in his brother's house on August 20th, 1995. He was asleep in an upstairs room when he heard the sound of people running up the stairs and two shots from a gun.
He looked out through the crack between his door and the hinge and saw one person running down the stairs. He recognised that person as the defendant.
Mr Kiely said he knew the defendant as he had lived in Mr Bermingham's mother's house up to about a year before the shooting.
Cross examined by Mr Gageby, the witness said he was not drunk at the time.
Mr Gageby suggested the person the witness saw was not Mr Bermingham. Mr Kiely said he was not mistaken.
Dr Sean McDermott, a forensic scientist, said he had examined certain items and had found nothing to link the defendant to the scene of the incident.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Flood and a jury.