Garda murder accused had stopped taking medication because it 'slowed me down'

Stephen Silver said that when he started grappling with Garda Horkan, he believed he was being targeted for assassination or being attacked by a drug dealer

Stephen Silver (pictured) told his counsel, Roisin Lacey SC, he is ashamed of the way he behaved during his garda interviews following the shooting. File picture

Stephen Silver has described to a Central Criminal jury the moment he struggled to take Detective Garda Colm Horkan's gun before striking him with the butt of the weapon and shooting him 11 times as the garda fell to the ground.

The accused said it happened so fast he had no time to think, adrenaline was flowing and, he said, he was trying to protect himself.