A Garda has agreed that his evidence in the trial of a man accused of killing his brother-in-law by running over him with his truck was not far off a suggestion of murder.
Det Sgt Anthony Hughes said he had observed that one of the three marks on the truck's windscreen had been made from the inside. He formed the opinion that the accused had hit the windscreen with his shoe, throwing the victim off the truck and under it.
"That's murder you are suggesting, Det Sgt Hughes," Mr Peter Charleton SC, defending, said at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
"In my opinion it's not far off, my lord," Det Sgt Hughes replied to Judge Kieran O'Connor. Sgt Hughes also told the jury he still believed the deceased's widow had conspired with the accused to kill her husband, Mr James Malone.
Mr Steven Graysmark (42), Sundale Avenue, Tallaght, Dublin, denies manslaughter, dangerous driving causing the death of Mr James Malone (31), and drunk driving on the Fonthill Road on August 29th, 1999.
Sgt Hughes agreed that gardai had not found any fingerprints on the windscreen to support his theory that Mr Malone had been hanging onto it. He also agreed gardai had not found any imprints of a shoe on the inside of the windscreen where they thought Mr Graysmark had hit it.
Mr Charleton called the detective's theory of Mr Malone hanging onto the windscreen "bizarre" and asked him if he still believed it despite the lack of evidence. "Absolutely," Sgt Hughes replied.
The jury heard that gardai arrested the deceased's widow, Ms Jacinta Malone, on suspicion that she conspired with the accused in her husband's death. He agreed this arrest was made on the "windscreen" theory.
He told the court it was after he heard evidence from witnesses who had seen various parts of the incident, and after he realised Mr Graysmark had left out some of the altercations that took place between him and Mr Malone earlier in the night, that he became suspicious.
The hearing continues.