Bullets similar to the six used to kill journalist Veronica Guerin were found in a grave in a Jewish cemetery in Tallaght, the Special Criminal Court was told yesterday.
Garda ballistics expert Det Sgt Patrick Ennis said the six bullets recovered from the body and car of Ms Guerin were point 38 or point 357 Magnum calibre ammunition. He said the bullets were not factory ones and were commonly used in game or target shooting.
Det Sgt Ennis said six similar bullets were found in a Tupperware container hidden in a grave at a Jewish cemetery at Oldcourt Road, Tallaght. He said he examined four semiautomatic pistols, silencers and ammunition, and camouflage pouches for a machine-pistol and silencer found there. The pouches were similar to camouflage pouches found in a warehouse at the Greenmount Industrial Estate in Harold's Cross, Dublin. The prosecution has claimed that Mr John Gilligan was "in control and command" of a criminal gang that used the warehouse to import and distribute large amounts of cannabis and that he organised the murder of Ms Guerin.
It was the seventh day of the trial of John Gilligan (48), who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sunday Independent crime reporter Veronica Guerin (37), at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin on June 26th 1996.
Det Garda James Hanley told the court that protected witness Charles Bowden took him and Det Insp John O'Mahony to a Jewish graveyard at Oldcourt Road around midnight on October 6th, 1996.
The gardai removed a slab over a grave pointed out to them by Bowden and found munitions underneath.
The trial continues today.