Officer didn't see Navy officer fall into water, trial hears

An officer on nightwatch aboard the navy flagship the L.E. Eithne has told a murder trial how he was alarmed to see a young sailor being washed away in the River Liffey a short time after he’d checked on him.

Duty Petty Officer Daniel O’Flynn told how Brian Gorey was helped up the ship’s gangway when he returned from the pub only hours before he was seen overboard struggling to save himself.

He was giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court on the third day of the trial of trial of Mr Sean Lundon (aged 21) of James Connolly Park, Tipperary town. Mr Lundon, the ship’s apprentice mechanic has denied the murder of fellow crewman, Mr Brian Gorey (aged 21) of Devon Close, Castletroy View, Limerick, at Sir John Rogerson’s Quay, Dublin on 22 April 2001.

"I was told he was on his way back, someone said he was drunk so I asked a cadet to escort him to make sure he wouldn’t fall," he said.

The witness said that after Brian Gorey was safely aboard the ship he closed the bar in the recreational room, where Mr Gorey and a few others were continuing to drink. He gave Mr Gorey a final pint before finishing the bar for the night at midnight, he said.

Some time after 5am another crewman alerted Officer O’Flynn to the deck and told him there was somebody in the water. "He said, ‘I think it’s Gorey’," the witness told the court

"I saw a head in the water and knowing his hairstyle, I knew it was Gores," he said, referring to the deceased. He said he moved quickly to raise the alarm and throw a lifebuoy into the water.

"There was a comrade we’d been keeping an eye on all night in the river," he said. Prior to this, Officer O’Flynn recalled hearing no splash and said he had seen nothing unusual when he carried out his patrol around the ship.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Carney and a jury of seven men and five women.