Man jailed for life for murder of Limerick bouncer

A 24-year-old man has been given a life sentence for the murder of a Limerick bouncer by a jury at the Central Criminal Court.

Gary Campion, of Pineview gardens, Moyross, Limerick was found guilty of murdering Mr Brian Fitzgerald in the early hours of November 29, 2002 at Brookhaven Walk, Mill Road, Corbally, Limerick after just over five hours of deliberations by the twelve man jury.

The jury also found Clare business man Anthony Kelly (aged 50) with an address at Killrush unanimously not guilty.

In a statement through his solicitor, Mr Eugene O'Kelly, Mr Kelly said he was grateful to the jury for upholding his innocence but expressed his resentment for the past year's incarceration "on the word of a self professed perjuring, perverted killer."

Mr O'Kelly said: "It is quite extraordinary that this man's freedom has been denied to him for the past year on the rantings and the ravings of a demented psychopath."

The jury are still deliberating on Mr Desmond Dundon (aged 23) from Ballinacurra Weston, Co Limerick.

Mr Dundon's brother, 27-year-old John Dundon was acquitted earlier in the trial when Mr Justice Charleton ruled there was no case against him.

Mr Fitzgerald was killed as he returned home from work. He was head of security at Doc's Nightclub in Limerick City. He was shot in the head and chest by chief prosecution witness James Martin Cahill, who is currently serving a life sentence for the murder.

Campion drove the motorcycle that was used to get away from the scene of the murder. During the trial Cahill told the court that Campion was asked to drive the bike when the original driver backed out.

The first driver, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had arrived in Limerick just after 6.30pm on the day of the murder. He was caught on CCTV making several phone calls from Burger King at the Parkway Shopping Centre.

Cahill told the court that the Ducatti motorcycle Mr D had brought had a problem with the clutch and Mr D told him it would not support Cahill's weight.

Gary Campion was called and attempted unsuccessfully to fix the Ducatti which was subsequently abandoned.

When Mr D pulled out, on learning of the details of the murder, Campion was asked if he wanted to drive instead.

He agreed.

After trips to Doc's Nightclub to identify the victim and Brookhaven Walk to identify his house, Cahill and Campion drove out to the Brookhaven Walk, where they hid in bushes to wait. Mr Fitzgerald's widow, Alice said during the trial Brian Fitzgerald had left for work, as usual, at around 8.10 pm It was his first day back in work since the weekend.

Before he left he bathed the couple's two young children and stayed with them until they fell asleep.

She was expecting her husband home at around 3.10 am At around 2am she got up to give one of the children a bottle and stayed awake to wait for her husband.

Mr Fitzgerald was late home. He had been dropping colleagues home after work so it was 3.50 am before she heard the jeep arrive and the door open.

She started coming downstairs but heard four shots and the sound of glass breaking. She said she heard her husband shout out "Come on ye cunts."

As she ran down the stairs she could see her husband fighting with a man in a motorcycle helmet through the glass panel in the front door. As she watched her husband looked at her through the glass.

She ran back upstairs to phone the gardaí but couldn't get her phone to work so she came back downstairs. She used the house phone to call the gardaí and was looking out of the window as she talked.

"As I was looking out there was a guy standing directly outside the window." She told Mr Vaughan Buckley he was a thin build man wearing a motorcycle helmet. She could only see the second man's legs as he was blocked by the jeep but could see he was a "big, fat, stocky guy".

She was using the cordless house phone and looking out of the window as she talked. One of the men was standing directly outside and she rapped on the window with the phone. He looked at her and she could see his face.

"He had very shiny eyes and his eyebrows they met," she said, "They were jet, jet black." She said the man muttered something and "took off".

As they left she saw that one of the men was limping. She went outside the house and looked in the jeep. "I don't know what I thought. I just looked in the jeep to see if he was there."

Mrs Fitzgerald said that she initially thought the two men had abducted her husband. Cahill told the court that when Mr Fitzgerald arrived he ran out of his hiding place towards him holding the gun.

There was a struggle by the jeep and Cahill fired four shots. Mr Fitzgerald was hit but struggled to his feet and ran up the streets shouting for help. He was banging on a neighbours door when Cahill caught up with him and shot him again across the bonnet of a car.

He fell down and Cahill walked around and shot him in the head. Earlier today, the jury asked to view CCTV footage showing Gary Campion at various locations both before and after the murder.

They also asked Mr Justice Peter Charleton to re-read the evidence of taxi driver's Jim Treacy and Christopher Kelly who both described bringing a young man with dark hair to Pineview Gardens in Moyross at various times on the night of the murder.

Mr Kelly described a conversation with his passenger, presumed to be Gary Campion when he brought him to Moyross just after 4 am.

The jury were also shown CCTV of a taxi arriving outside Campion's house at this time. Mr Kelly said his passenger considered going to visit a sick relative at St James Hospital in Limerick.

Campion's grandfather was in that hospital dying at this time and he was identified on CCTV footage from the hospital. Mr Justice Charleton told the jury they could now consider a majority

verdict for Mr Dundon.