Garda: Accused's phone not used for threatening calls

A garda has revealed that the "suspect" phone from which threatening calls were made to a journalist was not the accused's phone, which was itself 'in contact' with a senior garda at that same time.

Detective Garda Mark Gallagher was giving evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court on day five of the trial of a man charged with threatening to kill Paul Williams, crime editor of The Sunday World.

Mr James Walsh (aged 46) of Mountain View Drive, Churchtown, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to threatening to kill the journalist on June 25, 2003, and also threatening to cause him serious harm.

Det. Gda Gallagher told Mr Dominic McGinn BL, prosecuting, that he had collated and interpreted O2 and Vodafone phone records relevant to the investigation into a chart.

He said a 19-second call on June 24, 2003, recorded from the "suspect" mobile phone to Mr Williams' mobile phone corresponded with an abusive message Mr Williams reported having been left on his voice mail.

This call was routed through a Vodafone mast located at the Kilsaran Concrete plant near Tallaght.

He said that on either side of this phone call, Mr Walsh's mobile phone had calls recorded as being routed through O2 at the Firhouse Millennium mast near the M50.

Det. Gda Gallagher said a 29-second call from the same "suspect" phone on the morning of June 25, 2003, to Mr Williams corresponded with an unclear phone call Mr Williams reported having received during which he made out the words "Veronica Guerin".

He said a call from the "suspect" phone to Mr Williams recorded two minutes later at 11.40am corresponded to the call during which Mr Williams alleges he was told he would be "meeting Veronica Guerin". He said this call was routed through the Smithfield mast in Dublin city centre.

Det. Gda Gallagher said a call on Mr Walsh's phone ten minutes later at 11.52am was routed through a mast at Forthfield Road in Terenure.

He told Mr McGinn that a fourth call from the "suspect" phone to Mr Williams at 2.18pm corresponded with the call during which a second threat was allegedly made to Mr Williams that "he would not be walking around much longer".

Det. Gda Gallagher said that there was an overlap between this call from the "suspect" mobile and call from a senior garda to Mr Walsh's mobile.

He agreed with Mr McGinn that this meant the second allegedly threatening phone call was made during a time at which Mr Walsh's phone was in contact with the phone of a senior garda.

Det. Gda Gallagher also agreed with Mr McGinn that there had been two calls from the "suspect" phone to Mr Walsh's mobile phone between the two allegedly threatening calls on June 25 made to Mr Williams.

Mr Oliver Farrell, a director of Vilicom, an engineering company that carries out work for O2, said that a mobile phone mast is made of up several antennae, typically three, pointing in several directions to create a circular range of varying distances in which they pick up calls.

He said it is possible to identify which of the antennae or "cell sites" picked up a call as these are uniquely identified for billing purposes and it was also possible to identify which direction these antennae are pointing.

He agreed with Mr McGinn that the "suspect" phone from which the threatening calls were allegedly made was not Mr Walsh's personal mobile phone.

Mr Kevin Dowling, a technical support manager with Vodafone, told defence counsel Mr Pat Russell BL that in theory it would be possible for someone three kilometres to the north of a mast and another person two kilometres to the south of a mast to be routed through the same mast even though they are seven kilometres apart.

He noted, however, that although they would be routed through the same mast, they would be registered on separate "cell sites" on the mast pointing in different directions.

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