The niece of a man shot in the back at a family funeral has said she was "in fear of her life" when gunmen opened fire outside a Sligo cemetery, the Central Criminal Court has heard. Five men are before the court charged with murder at the Traveller funeral.
Ms Shirley Ward (24) told the jury she was "terrified" when she saw six men with guns as she sat in the passenger seat of her husband's Toyota Hi-ace.
Ms Ward was attending the funeral of her uncle. Before the hearse arrived from Dublin, she claimed gunmen opened fire at the graveyard in May 1999.
Ms Ward said she drove with her husband, Mr Paddy "Jaws" Ward jnr, and his father in a Hi- ace van on the morning of the funeral in Ballymote. When they arrived at the cemetery, she said, 100 members of the McDonagh clan met them. A fracas broke out and Patrick "Deuce" Ward was shot dead and three other men, including her husband, were also shot at by a number of gunmen.
Ms Ann Roland, defending, suggested that the Ward family had "plenty of enemies" at the graveyard on the morning of May 10th, 1999. Ms Ward replied: "I can't say that." Ms Roland outlined a litany of attacks which took place within and against the extended Ward family in England leading up to the fatal shooting.
Ms Ward said she had "heard something" about a fight involving her father in a London pub a year and a half earlier.
Ms Roland said Mr John Ward took out a samurai sword in the pub and caused serious injuries to members of the Reilly family. At least 20 members of that same family were allegedly at the graveyard entrance in May 1999.
Ms Roland claimed that Ms Ward's father had "numerous convictions for theft, larceny and domestic violence" and that a warrant was out for his arrest in Britain. Another family related to the Reillys allegedly sought revenge for the samurai incident by attacking Ms Ward's younger brother Michael, leaving him with 900 stitches.
The trial continues before Mr Justice O'Neill at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Michael McDonagh snr (58), Mr Martin McDonagh snr (53), Mr Michael McDonagh jnr (29), Mr Patrick McDonagh (33) and Mr Martin McDonagh jnr (26), from Hertfordshire, England, have all denied the murder of Patrick Ward. Mr Ward (38), a father of six originally from Galway but living in Manchester, had travelled to Ireland for the funeral of his uncle in Ballymote, Co Sligo, on May 10th, 1999, when he was fatally shot. They also deny the attempted murder of Mr Patrick Ward snr, Mr Patrick Ward jnr and Mr Edward Ward.