Wheelchair witness threatened with contempt of court

Mr Justice Paul Carney has told a witness in the trial of a Dublin man accused of shooting another man in Crumlin that the only reason he did not send him to the cells over night was because he was in a wheelchair.

Mr Daniel Doyle (aged 26) refused to answer questions asked him by defence counsel Mr Conor Devally SC. Mr Doyle claimed he had not made a statement which referred a lift he received from an unnamed man.

It was the second day in the trial of Paul Hurley (aged 19) of Clonmacnoise Road, Crumlin, Dublin who denies attempting to murder Mr Doyle on August 15, 2005 in Crumlin. He has also denied a second charge of causing serious harm to Mr Doyle.

Mr Doyle is confined to a wheelchair since the night in question.

When Detective Sergeant Denis Quinn, took the stand to prove Mr Doyle's statement Mr Doyle shouted out that Det Sgt Quinn was telling lies. He refused to tell Mr Devally about a conversation mentioned in the disputed statement in which he discussed the number of shootings in Crumlin.

Mr Doyle said he did not remember being given a lift to an off licence in a Mitsubishi Colt by a man who was talking on a mobile phone.

He refused to comment of a line in the statement which read "He usually says there's my number if you want a bit of work but this time he just said take my number."

Mr Doyle reacted angrily when Mr Devally pressed him for an answer. He insisted "if it's not my statement, if I didn't sign it, how can it be my words?"

He refused to name the man who gave him a lift because he was not in court to defend himself. He said if it had been important the man would have been called as a witness.

Mr Justice Carney told Mr Doyle that it was an important part of the criminal process that witnesses were cross-examined. If he continued to refuse to be cross-examined he would "terminate it in such a fashion that that is an end to it."

Adjourning the case until tomorrow morning, Mr Justice Carney said that the only reason Mr Doyle would not spend the night in the cells was because he was in a wheelchair.

Earlier Mr Doyle told Paul Coffey SC, prosecuting, the circumstances of the night he was shot. He told the court he was drinking in Sundrive Park, also known as Eamonn Ceannt Park, in Crumlin at about 10.30 on August 15, 2005, when three men approached him with a gun and started firing at him.

Mr Doyle said he recognised one of the men as the accused Mr Paul Hurley.

"I thought nothing of it because I recognised one of them. As they came towards me I saw a flash and heard a bang and I started to run, then the next thing I knew, I was on the ground."

Mr Doyle said the middle man was carrying what looked like a rifle and the man he identified as Mr Hurley was on his left. He said Mr Hurley did not have his face covered but was wearing a baseball cap.

Mr Doyle told Mr Coffey he brought his hand up to shield his face from further shots. "I heard one of them say you got him in the head so I went along with that. I played dead."

He said he heard one of the men tell Mr Hurley to get his phone. "They says Hurley get his phone and he said no, I'm not touching him." He said he felt someone turn him over and start searching him.

Mr Doyle said his hand was still over his face when he was turned and he could see who was searching him. He told the jury it was Paul Hurley.

He described dragging himself over towards the gate of the park where he tried to alert two gardaí. They didn't hear him but a man waiting at a nearby bus stop called them back.

He said he immediately told the first garda he recognised that Paul Hurley had been one of the men who shot him.

He told Mr Coffey that he had no feeling or movement below mid chest level and had not left hospital since the shooting. He said he was currently living in a care home.

The trial will continue before Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury of eight men and four women on Tuesday.