Close relative testifies in murder trial

A close relative of a man accused of murdering his neighbour with a double-barrelled shotgun has told his trial today that he only had the gun in his possession because she had asked him to mind it.

Julie McKiernan was giving evidence in the trial of her first cousin, Brendan O'Sullivan, a 26-year-old father of two, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Leslie Kenny in July last year.

She told the jury she asked O'Sullivan to take the shotgun because she was afraid her estranged husband would use it to kill himself.

The court has heard that 27-year-old Mr Kenny, died in O'Sullivan's front garden on O'Gorman Street, Kilrush, after being shot four times in the chest, hip and through both knees.

O'Sullivan told gardaí he had been protecting his family and was terrified that Mr Kenny was going to “cut his wife and cut my kid's throats” because he had threatened to do so a number of times.

O'Sullivan, who has two young daughters, said his family had been getting “non-stop” threats from Mr Kenny, who lived a few doors away from them.

He said his neighbour had threatened to pour petrol in his letterbox and put shots through his back door with his seven-shot repeater.

O'Sullivan initially denied threatening Mr Kenny on the morning of the shooting, but eventually admitted to gardaí that he stood on his garden bench to confront him about the threats and shouted: “If you shoot me with your 7 shot, you will be getting shot back.”

He said he ran upstairs when he saw Mr Kenny walk towards his house, got a shotgun, loaded it and shot Mr Kenny twice when he appeared at his garden wall.

He admitted reloading the gun and shooting him in the knees, firing the final shot as Mr Kenny lay injured on the ground.

“All I could think of was my wife and kids....I was just trying to scare him off” he told Gardaí.

O'Sullivan initially said that Mr Kenny had chased his wife Claire, and their two year old, into the house threatening to kill them, and that he had ran downstairs with the gun when he heard the shouting.

In subsequent interviews he admitted this hadn't happened and said he had confronted Mr Kenny.

In her evidence, Ms McKiernan said that about three weeks before the shooting, O'Sullivan paid a social visit to her and her children.

She said there was “an awful lot of upset” at the time and that her estranged husband had threatened a number of times to use the gun on himself.

“I felt safer if it wasn't in the house and he wouldn't know where it was” she told the court, and said O'Sullivan agreed to take it.

Kevin McKiernan also took the witness stand and confirmed that he owned the shotgun and that he had told his wife he might use it on himself.

He said he asked gardaí to take his gun into custody, but they told him that service was no longer available to the public, so he left it in the wardrobe of his home when he moved out.

Mr McKiernan said he knew his wife had asked O'Sullivan to mind the gun “for my safety” but did not know the gun had been taken from the house at the time of the shooting.

The jury was also shown video footage of O'Sullivan's interviews with detectives, during which it was repeatedly put to him that he got the gun from his cousin for the protection of his family.

O'Sullivan denied this, saying he was minding it at her request and never intended to use it.

He was asked why he had kept it under his mattress and had not stashed it somewhere safer. He replied that he knew his two young daughters would not be able to lift the mattress.

O'Sullivan admitted that he kept the gun in the house against the wishes of his wife, but maintained it was not there for his family's protection following threats from Mr Kenny.

The case resumes tomorrow before the jury of eight men and four women.