Taxi driver gives evidence in Limerick-bouncer shooting case

The Central Criminal Court jury in the trial of four men accused of the fatal shooting of a Limerick bouncer have been hearing from taxi drivers who were working in Limerick on the night of the shooting.

Gary Campion (aged 24), of Pineview Gardens, Moyross, Limerick, John (aged 27), and Desmond (aged 23), Dundon both from Ballinacurra Weston, Co. Limerick and Clare business man Anthony Kelly (aged 50), with an address at Killrush all plead not guilty to murdering 34-year-old Brian Fitzgerald, on November 29, 2002 at Brookhaven Walk, Mill Road, Corbally, Limerick.

Mr Jim Treacy told Mr Sean Gillane BL, prosecuting he picked up a fare from Limerick City at around 1am on the night of the shooting. He described the man as 18 or 19 years old and wearing dark clothes. "I thought at first he was a student."

The man asked to be brought to Pineview Gardens in Moyross and paid with a €50 note. Mr Treacy said he had a conversation with the man. He told Mr Conor Devally SC defending Gary Campion that he was sure the man had sat in the front passenger seat because he was talking to him. "I have a problem with hearing so if he was in the back I wouldn't have been able to talk to him."

He said that the man had showed him where to go in Pineview Gardens and after he had paid he went into one of the houses.

Mr Darren Cooney, another taxi driver, told Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that he was dropping a fare to Corbally between 4.10 and 4.50 on the night of the shooting when he saw a motorcycle with two passengers coming towards him at speed.

He said the driver was crouched down low over the bike and he did not get a good look at him but the passenger, who was sitting upright, was wearing a "whitish grey" helmet with the visor pulled down.

As the bike passed, the passenger looked into the taxi. Mr Cooney said he was a young man, stocky with "navy brown eyebrows". He could not give a description of the driver.

Mr Luke Keogh told Mr Gillane that he had been driving home from Limerick to Castletroy at about 4.10am. As he was passing Dillon's garage on the Dublin Road he saw a fire in a laneway but could not pull in to check it out because of traffic behind him.

He drove further on and stopped at a filling station to get cigarettes then decided to return to the fire. When he arrived he could see that it was a motorcycle. "The back wheel and the exhaust gave it away." He called the fire brigade and went on his way.

Taxi driver Christopher Kelly told Mr Buckley that he had been sent to pick up a fare from Mannings House opposite Dillon's garage at around 4.10am on the night of the shooting.

He noticed a "flame at the back of Dillon's" but did not stop. When he arrived at the location he discovered he had to turn the car to drive back. When he stopped the car a young man had come out. He asked to be taken to Pineview Gardens in Moyross.

Mr Kelly had to ring his base to ask what fare he should charge. The man "thought that the base operator said €5 and thought it was very cheap and I said no he actually said €10."

The man said he was considering going to the hospital to see a sick relative but decided to go straight to Moyross. Mr Kelly thought he mentioned his grandfather.

The jury was also shown CCTV footage from St John's Hospital in Limerick from November 28, 2002 in which Gary Campion was identified.

The trial continues at the Central Criminal Court sitting at Cloverhill before Mr Justice Peter Charleton and the jury of twelve men.