Taylor tells court he felt bullet 'whizz' past his head

Central Criminal Court hears boxing trainer say he was was 'within touching distance' of gunman

Pete Taylor leaving the Central Criminal Court in Dublin today after he gave evidence in the trial of Gerard Cervi for the murder of Bobby Messett at Bray Boxing Club, in June 2018. Mr. Cervi has pleaded not guilty. Picture: Collins Courts

Boxing trainer Pete Taylor was "within touching distance" of a gunman when he was shot, spun 180 degrees and fell to the floor where he lay unable to move due to the pain, he has told the trial of a man accused of murder and his attempted murder.

Mr Taylor told the Central Criminal Court he felt one bullet "whizz" past his head as he ran towards the gunman who was standing in the doorway of the gym where Mr Taylor was taking an early morning fitness class.

He also revealed he complained to the Garda Siochana Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) after his runners and tracksuit bottoms, containing between €200-400, were removed from him at the scene and never returned.

Mr Taylor's partner Karen Brown described arriving at the gym moments after the shooting and almost crashing into a grey van that was leaving the scene. When she saw Mr Taylor lying on the floor of the gym with blood coming from his chest, she thought he was dying.

Gerard Cervi (34), from the East Wall area of Dublin 3 has pleaded not guilty to murdering Bobby Messett (50) at Mr Taylor's Bray Boxing Club, Bray Harbour, Bray, Co Wicklow during an early morning fitness session on June 5, 2018. Mr Cervi also denies the attempted murder of Mr Taylor and Ian Britton on the same occasion.

Mr Taylor told prosecution counsel Paul Murray SC that his daughter is an Olympic boxer and he is a well-known boxing coach and fitness trainer. He set up Bray Boxing Club in 1995 and moved the club to the gym on the seafront in 2005. 

On June 5, 2018, he was taking a class at 6.45am. He arrived at 6.40am, wrote the morning's session on the white board and when everyone arrived he started the session. He said he turned his back on the class to plug his phone into the sound system and "a loud bang went off". He thought it was an air compressor and when he turned around he heard a second bang and saw someone "straddled between the door frame with what looked like a gun":  

I thought he was someone playing a prank and then I noticed Bobby [Mr Messett] on the ground and everyone hitting the ground. The chap was shooting right to left around the room, shooting very low.

Mr Taylor looked for something "to throw at the chap" but all he could see were large weights too heavy to throw.  

"I just decided to run at him, not directly towards him because there were machines in the way that I had to run around to get to him. 

 As I was running the first shot went off that was aimed towards me. I felt it whizz above my head and I put my arm across my head and kept running. 

"I was within touching distance, maybe a foot away," he said, when he "dived" towards the gunman but was struck by a bullet, spun 180 degrees and landed on his back on the floor. He said: 

I tried to get up again but couldn't get up with the pain and then the shooting stopped and it went quiet and then everyone started screaming and shouting. 

Mr Taylor described the gunman as being about five feet eight inches tall, wearing a black jacket and high viz vest. He recalled hearing seven or eight shots and thought the shooting went on for 15 to 20 seconds.

He agreed with defence counsel Anne-Marie Lawlor SC that when he gave his first statement to gardaí he had been given morphine and later went back to correct certain things. He said he also asked gardaí to return his runners, which had been removed by paramedics, and a sum of money that was in his tracksuit bottoms. He said he thought it was €200 but agreed that in a previous statement he said it was between €300 and €400.

He said he was told by gardaí that they didn't have his money or runners and had never taken them.

Karen Brown told Mr Murray that she is Mr Taylor's partner. 

She was on her way to the class that morning in her Range Rover but was late. "Pete is adamant about time-keeping," she said, so she decided to cut the corner as she turned onto the seafront. As she came around the corner she "almost hit a grey van" which she thought was a Volkswagen Caddy or a Ford Transit, the type used by a builder.

She got a fright, she said, but didn't pay the van any more attention. As she approached the gym she saw someone hanging out the women's toilet window and thought her classmates were playing a joke because she was late. She realised something was wrong when she heard someone shouting, "call an ambulance", and, "get the reg, get the reg." One of the class members was screaming, "Bobby, Bobby."

The trial continues.