Belfast man shot taxi driver as he lay on ground, murder trial hears

A Belfast man shot dead a taxi driver in the city as he lay on the ground with his hands over his head, the Special Criminal Court in Dublin was told today.

Prosecuting counsel Mr Tom O’ Connell SC said that Gerard Mackin shot dead father of five Edward Burns (aged 36) after hijacking his taxi near the Springhill estate in west Belfast in March 2007.

Mackin (aged 28), a native of the Whiterock area of west Belfast, with an address at Raheen Close, Tallaght, Dublin denies the murder of Mr Edward Burns of Prospect Park, Belfast, at Bog Meadow, Falls Road, Belfast on March 12, 2007.

He has also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Mr Damien O' Neill, the possession of a firearm with intent to endanger life and causing serious harm to Mr O' Neill on the same date.

Mackin's trial is a retrial after his conviction in 2008 for murder was quashed by the Court of Criminal Appeal and a retrial was ordered. He was the first person convicted in a Dublin court for an alleged murder in Belfast under a rarely used cross border anti-terrorist law.

Mackin's conviction was quashed after the appeal court ruled that crucial prosecution evidence had not been properly proven during his original trial.

Mackin opted for trial in the Republic of Ireland under the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act of 1976 which allows suspects to be tried in the Republic for alleged offences in Britain or Northern Ireland.

Opening the prosecution case, Mr O’Connell said that Mackin and Mr Damien O’Neill were drinking in different pubs in west Belfast on the night of March 11, 2007.

The court would hear evidence that Mr Burns’s mobile phone rang continuously around 2.15am on March 12 and he eventually answered it and left his girlfriend’s house.

Mr Burns went to the Springhill area where he mat Mackin, Mr O’Neill and another man. When he arrived Mackin told him that his taxi was being hijacked and he was put in the back of the car.

Mr Damien O’Neill would tell the court that Mackin drove the car to an area known as the Bog Meadow and Mr Burns was taken out of the car by Mackin, put lying on the ground and then shot in the head as he lay with his hands over his head.

There would be evidence that only one shot was fired but the bullet went through Mr Burns’s hand before going into his head.

Mr O’Neill would also tell the court that he got the gun off Mackin and made a run for it but Mackin caught up with him, regained possession of the revolver and then shot him (O’Neill ) twice in the upper left arm and the right side of his neck.

Mackin left , thinking Mr O’Neill was dead , but Mr O’Neill managed to flag down a passing taxi and was taken to the Royal Victoria Hospital.

Mr O’Connell told the court that Mr O’ Neill’s evidence was "absolutely central" to the prosecution case and Mr O'Neill has said he will not travel to Dublin to give evidence.

The court made an order requesting the Lord Chief Justice of Northern Ireland to make arrangements for a High Court judge in Belfast to hear evidence from a number of witnesses, including Mr O’ Neill, in the presence of the three judges of the Special Criminal Court.

The trial was adjourned until January next year to allow the Northern Ireland authorities to make the necessary arrangements.