Journalist told 'you will meet Veronica Guerin', court hears

A journalist has claimed at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that a man accused of threatening to kill him told him: "You will be meeting Veronica Guerin."

Mr James Walsh (aged 46) of Mountain View Drive, Churchtown, has pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill Mr Paul Williams, the crime editor of the Sunday World, on June 25, 2003 and also threatening to cause him serious harm later the same day.

Mr Williams told Mr Dominic McGinn BL, prosecuting, he wanted to interview Mr Walsh about a story he was researching and made a number of attempts to speak to him before finally making contact with him on June 20, 2003 when he spoke to him for about 10 minutes.

He said following this conversation the next contact he had with Mr Walsh was on June 24 when an abusive message was left on his message minder by a voice he says he recognised as the accused.

Mr Williams said he next received a call on the morning of June 25 from a voice he identified as Mr Walsh's. The reception was bad and the call was made again some minutes later at 11.40am.

He said he was told: "If you write anything about me in the Sunday World, you will be meeting Veronica Guerin and I mean that."

Mr Williams said the threat was repeated by the caller who told him he would be "meeting Veronica Guerin head to head".

Mr Williams said he took this to mean "that he was going to have me murdered". He said been threatened on a number of occasions previously and took this threat seriously.

He told Mr McGinn that this incident had occurred on the eve of the seventh anniversary of Veronica Guerin's murder when he was due to attend a memorial organised by her mother Bernie.

He said he contacted gardaí and around 2.20pm he received another phone call from the same voice which said: "I've just been pulled in by your mate (Detective Garda) Joe O'Hara and you won't be walking around much longer."

Mr Williams said he was in his office on the evening of June 27 when he was "totally surprised" to receive an internal e-mail message saying that Mr Walsh wanted to speak to him.

He returned the call and had a calm conversation with Mr Walsh in which he denied all knowledge of the threats.

He said Mr Walsh implied that he wished to talk to him about the matter Mr Williams had originally contacted him about and intimated he would met him the following day in the Sunday World offices.

When Mr Walsh did not turn up for the meeting, Mr Williams said he rang him and taped the conversation, which he handed over to gardaí. Mr Williams said Mr Walsh told him he had no information and did not want to talk to him.

Mr Williams said he was "very distressed" and "in a heightened state of alert" as a result of the threats.

Mr McGinn earlier told the jury that the prosecution would rely on Mr Williams' evidence that he recognised the voice of the person making the threats as that of Mr Walsh.

He said it was the prosecutions case that Mr Walsh used a mobile phone other then his own to make the calls but several factors could connect him to the threats including the location of mobile phone masts through which the calls were made and a meeting he had with Det Gda Joe O'Hara on the day.

He told the jury that they should put their views on privacy and the freedom of the press aside during the trial and said: "If John Walsh did not like what Paul Williams was doing there were legitimate remedies available to prevent publication".

The trial continues before Judge Desmond Hogan and a jury of five men and seven women.