Limerick man thought female friend was going to shoot him when she jumped out of her car, murder trial told

Witness, who knew the deceased man, said he cowered and put his hands over his head when she stopped her car and swung open the door

The prosecution claims Lee Slattery was shot dead in the early hours of the following morning after the encounter with his friend.

A woman who met a young Limerick man hours before he was shot dead described on Wednesday at his murder trial how he cowered and put his hands over his head and chest when she jumped out of her car in front of him, as he thought he was about to be shot.

Witness Coleen Neill told Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and the jury of seven women and five men at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork that she and the late Lee Slattery shared a nervous laugh after the incident at about 7.25pm on Thursday May 27, 2010. 

The prosecution claims he was shot dead in the early hours of the following morning.

32-year-old Kurt Ryan, of Moylish Crescent, Limerick, denies the single charge of murdering 25-year-old Lee Slattery on the grounds of Delmege House, known locally as the Dallies.

Coleen Neill described how she was stopped on Shanabooley Road in Limerick at 7.25pm that evening when she stopped and jumped out of her car. She described the reaction of Lee Slattery, whom she knew, when she swung open the door of the car.

“I saw Lee. He was holding his chest and covering his head. I said, ‘Lee, what’s wrong with you’. He said, ‘Jesus, I thought you were getting out of the car to shoot me’. His fear was very real. We giggled it off — a bit of a nervous laugh. But he was really fearful, cowering low to the ground and holding his hand over his head like he was protecting himself,” Ms Neill said.

Her sister, Ciara Neill was a passenger in the car that evening and she gave a similar description of Lee Slattery’s reaction and him saying: “My heart. I thought you were someone going to shoot me”, and that he appeared to be frightened, but that they laughed it off. She said he was wearing a blue tracksuit top.

Lee Slattery’s mother said they were getting more and more worried as days passed and her son had not returned home. She said Kurt Ryan, who had never called to her house before, called and said he had not seen Lee for a couple of days and he thought Lee was avoiding him because he [Lee] owed him €80.

Lee’s brother, Ray Slattery, testified he and some relatives and friends searched the grounds of Delmege House in the days afterwards when he had not returned home. 

He said they searched for a few hours and as they entered a field near the soccer pitch they saw a fresh, mucky patch covered with branches and he started digging into the ground with a branch, overturning soft sods. 

Ray’s uncle, John, joined this search and overturned some of the spongey ground to reveal a patch of blue tracksuit. They immediately phoned gardaí and did not touch the ground again. Five minutes later, gardaí arrived and cordoned off the scene.

The trial continues.