Four shots fired at car, Dublin murder trial hears

The jury in the trial of a man accused of a fatal shooting on the Clontarf Road in 2005 has heard that four shots were fired into the passenger window of a vehicle which had tinted windows.

Garda Colm Mac Donnacha was one of the first gardaí on the scene of the shooting and told the Central Criminal Court that a Ford Mondeo was abandoned in the middle of the road with the driver’s door lying open. The lights were on and the key was in the ignition, but the engine was not running.

He looked through the driver’s door and saw a male slumped backwards in the front passenger seat. He also noticed four bullet holes in the passenger window. There was no sign of the driver.

He said the male passenger showed no signs of life. Gda Mac Donnacha moved to the passenger side of the vehicle and saw four nine millimetre bullet casings on the ground. He noticed that the windows of the car were tinted so that he could not see the passenger from outside the vehicle.

Craig White (aged 23), of O’Devaney Gardens in north inner city Dublin, denies murdering Noel Roche (aged 27) on Clontarf Road on November 15, 2005.

Margaret McMahon, the deceased man’s aunt, told the court that she and her husband had gone to see Phil Collins at the Point Depot with Mr Roche and his girlfriend. Mrs McMahon said that at around 9.30pm, Mr Roche went to out to the bar in the lobby of the venue for a drink with his girlfriend. His girlfriend returned to the main arena and said Mr Roche had had to leave.

Stuart Massey was waiting outside the venue in his car to collect his parents from the gig. He told Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, that he noticed a Fiat Punto parked in front of his car. He said the driver was a large man who looked too big for the vehicle. He also saw a man on the pavement who was smoking, wearing a hoodie and going back and forth to the Fiat Punto.

Mr Massey then noticed a Ford Mondeo pull up.

He said a five foot nine man with black hair, in his thirties and on a mobile phone, jumped into the Ford Mondeo which took off at speed in the direction of Clontarf.

The Fiat did a u-turn in the middle of the road and followed the Ford Mondeo.

Mr Massey drove his parents to the north side of the city and then heard on the radio that there had been a shooting. Out of curiosity he drove to the scene of the shooting as reported on the news and saw the same Ford Mondeo that he had observed outside the Point. He said he knew by the tinted windows, the colour of the car and its lack of hub caps that it was the same vehicle.

Residents from the Clontarf Road told the court that they heard shots that night. One resident said that a window at the front of her house was broken and she heard shots being fired.

An elderly lady who lives on Clontarf Road told the court that she heard shots but tried to persuade herself it was fireworks until a man came to her door shouting for her to ring gardaí and an ambulance. She said he told her that there had been a very bad car accident.

Helena Glennon, of Furry Park Road, told the court that at around 10.30pm she went out to the front of her house and heard a car driving past at high speed. It pulled up across the road and she saw two men in their twenties running away from it. She described the men as of average height and build. Ms Glennon then noted the registration of the car and rang gardaí.

The jury earlier heard in the opening statement by the prosecution that DNA and finger print evidence would link the accused to items found in the car abandoned on Furry Park Road.

The trial continues before Mr Justice George Birmingham and a jury of seven men and five women.