Accused denies gun threat

A young man accused of putting a gun to his brother-in-law’s head and twice pulling the trigger told gardaí that he was at a funeral in Donegal when the incident allegedly took place in Dublin.

Charlie Darcy allegedly entered his sister’s house in the middle of the night armed with a semi automatic pistol, went into her bedroom and fired the weapon at her husband’s head in front of their two-week-old child.

The firearm jammed and Patrick Collins was able to run out of his house in his boxer shorts and hide in a neighbour’s garden.

Mr Darcy (aged 20) of Crumlin Park, Crumlin, Dublin 12, has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Mr Collins at an address at Cooley Road, Drimnagh, on August 31, 2008. He also denies burglary and aggravated burglary in that he entered the house as a trespasser with the intention to commit murder and was in possession of a firearm.

The jury of six men and six women were absent for legal argument on the third morning of the trial yesterday before hearing evidence in the afternoon.

The jury heard that during interviews with gardaí in September 2008 Mr Darcy said that he travelled by car to Donegal with a friend and three family members to visit a dying relative and attend his funeral at the time of the alleged incident.

Asked why his sister, Linda Collins, would say the gunman was him, Mr Darcy said, “She was forced into saying it because he probably owes money for drugs”.

Mr Darcy denied that he knew about, or had anything to do with, a family feud.

“I’m sorry for them but it wasn’t me, I wasn’t there,” Mr Darcy told gardaí. “If you want to get her number I will speak to her now, I have no problems with her, no problem with him either.”

The jury heard from Detective Garda Seamus O’Donnell that a pistol magazine with five millimetre rounds suitable for use in several semi automatic pistols was found in the Collins’ bedroom.

The trial will continue next Wednesday at the Central Criminal Court before Mr Justice Paul Carney.