Supergrass takes the stand in Gilligan case

The first State supergrass to give evidence against murder accused John Gilligan has taken the witness stand.

John Dunne is currently serving a three-year jail sentence for importing drugs and is under the State Witness Protection Programme.

He entered the courtroom at 3.30pm under heavy security.

He said that in 1993 he was working as operations manager for an international freight company called Sea Bridge, which was based in Cork. He said he first met a man called John in early 1994.

He was contacted by John at a later date to import consignments from Holland for which he received £1,000 for each delivery.

He said he met John several times and often travelled to the Ambassador Hotel car park near Naas in Co Kildare, where he handed over the consignments and was paid by John.

He said the consignments continued to come through Cork until October 1996.

For his part, John Gilligan stared at the ceiling, never glancing at the witness box once Dunne entered it.