Gun residue ‘came from shooting at trees’
Ian Horgan, aged 30, with an address at 68 Lenihan Avenue, Limerick, and originally from Inismore, Ballincollig, has pleaded not guilty at Limerick Circuit Court to having a shotgun on December 12, 2013, with intent to endanger life.
Sean Finnan, then aged 26, was shot and wounded when he went to the front door of his house at Byrne Avenue, Prospect, Limerick, and was hit by 23 shotgun pellets.
His then partner, Leanne Casey has told the trial that she joined Mr Finnan to get a “pull” from his cigarette at around 9.30pm when two men approached the front of the house. One produced a gun and opened fire.
The gunman then fired a second time and as he did so a scarf covering his face came down and it was Ian Horgan a man she knew to see.
In evidence yesterday, Garda Declan O’Halloran gave evidence of interviews Mr Horgan gave to gardaí after his arrest.
He denied being involved in the shooting and said he did not know Sean Finnan.
“Why should I shoot somebody I don’t know,” Mr Horgan told gardaí.
At the time of the shooting he was with his “missus”, Teresa O’Neill, who he had known for two or three months. They were at her house in 62 Lenihan Avenue with others.
Asked about a firearm residue found on his right hand, Mr Horgan said he had fired a shotgun some days previously on a visit to Cork.
That day he left Limerick at around 2am after being collected by a friend from Clonmel. He and his family came from Inismore in Ballincollig and they had a friend who was a farmer.
Mr Horgan, in the garda interviews, refused to name the farmer, saying: “I am not getting him into trouble.”
The prosecution case concluded yesterday.
