THE widow of a Co Tipperary cattle dealer, who died after he was shot in the knee, told the Central Criminal Court yesterday how she heard a shot as she and her daughter lay tied together in a bedroom of their home.
Mrs Bridget Fanning said she heard her husband Danny say: "Jesus, I'll never be gathered up," and then heard a car drive away.
She heard her husband moaning and calling her daughter who shouted to him to conserve his energy. He had said: "I can't wait".
"I heard Danny say, `I'm going,' and that was the last we heard from him."
Mrs Fanning said she had managed to free herself and went into the kitchen where her husband lay slumped in a chair. His arms and legs were tied and there was blood everywhere. She shouted to her daughter that he was dead, Mrs Fanning said.
She told the court she had gone into "a state of shock" when she looked up from her kitchen table earlier on that evening of February 6th last year to see two masked men, dressed in black and carrying shotguns.
She said the men had tied up both her and her daughter and put them in a downstairs bedroom. She had pleaded with them to "go easy with her husband who suffered from asthma.
One of the men told her: "This is for the cause, this is the f.... government's fault.".
Mrs Fanning was giving evidence on the first day of the trial of two Dublin men who have denied the murder.
Mr Ivor Sweetman (46), from Bawnlea Green, Jobstown, Tallaght, and Mr Francis Palmer (26), from Foxborough Road, Lucan, have denied the murder of Mr Danny Fanning (71) at his home at Stephenstown, Rosegreen, Cashel, Co Tipperary on February 6th last year.
Both accused have also denied having a firearm with intent to commit robbery on the same date. They have further denied having a sawn off shotgun at Rosegreen on the same date with intent to endanger life or to enable another person to do so.
Opening the trial, Mr Kenneth Mills SC, prosecuting, said Danny Fanning was a "go ahead" farmer.
He said a group of four men entered the Fanning home on the evening of February 6th and shot Mr Fanning and tied up his wife and daughter Rosaleen.
Counsel said it was found that a shotgun was discharged at close range just below Mr Fanning's knee. State Pathologist Dr John Harbison would say he died from shock and haemorrhage due to a shotgun wound.
It appeared the raiders did not take anything from the house. Mr Mills said. He asked the jury not to speculate on why the men had attacked Mr Fanning.
Mr Mills said a group of four men was involved and the State was contending the two accused were part of that group.
He said a witness would say that a man, who he believes was the accused Mr Sweetman, was driving a car five miles from the Fanning home on February 5th 1996 and was examining road signs.
Another witness would say she saw the accused Mr Palmer drive a car through Rosegreen village between 4.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. on the day of the incident.
Mr Mills said there would also be evidence that a car was seen parked near a wall between Rosegreen village and the Fanning home on the night of February 6th. Gardai believe the car was used in the incident at the Fanning home, he said.
Mrs Bridget Fanning said she and her husband were at their home on the evening of February 6th and their daughter, Rosaleen, arrived from work about 7.30 p.m. She asked Rosaleen to go outside to get something from the freezer. Shortly afterwards she heard the back door open. Shea looked up and saw two armed men. They were dressed in black and wore balaclavas. She thought it was some of her children playing a joke and she told them to "give up the codding". The men said: "This is no .... codding," and told her to get down and look down. Mrs Fanning said she was "in a state of shock".
She lay on the floor. Her husband also got down onto the floor.
Mrs Fanning said Rosaleen came in on her hands and knees. A man with a bat was behind her. He was also wearing black and masked. "She joined me on the floor and we held hands.".
Mrs Fanning said one of the men asked her husband about guns and she told him there was an old one under the stairs. The gum was located and the man examined it. One of the men also searched upstairs.
She remained on the floor and began to pray. One of the men told her that would do her "no f..... good".
One of the men asked her husband about a safe and money. He said: "You came on a bad day, lads. There isn't any money.
At one point the phone rang and one of the men marched Rosaleen to the phone but it stopped as they got to it, the witness said. One of the men was addressed as "Yoyo" or "Jojo".
Mrs Fanning said she and, Rosaleen were ordered into a downstairs bedroom where they were tied up with old tights. She said she had a varicose ulcer and asked the man tying her up not to put the tights across the ulcer. "He was very nice, he tied it a bit higher up," she said.
She asked the man if he had a mother. He didn't answer but then said he had. He said there were 11 in his family and his father worked very hard and they got .... nothing".
They were told not to alert the gardai or make noise, Mrs Fanning said. One of the men had said if they raised the alarm, the raiders or their friends would come back and get them.
Mrs Fanning said she heard talking from the kitchen and chairs being dragged around. She said to her daughter: "I hope they don't hurt Daddy," and one man said: "That's a very bad man."
Mrs Fanning said she replied she knew her husband a long time and didn't see anything bad about him. The man had said: "We're not here for the money." She asked him what they were there for and the man said Mr Fanning would tell her when they were gone.
Another raider had come into the room and said they were getting "f...... nothing here". She was told they would hear a shot but not to take any notice of it.
Then the men left them in darkness in the room and she heard a door banging and a car drive away. Her husband was moaning and he called for their daughter and she shouted back that they were tied up.
Her husband kept calling and her daughter shouted to him to conserve his energy. He had said: "I can't wait," and they heard him say: "I'm going."
Mrs Fanning said she managed to untie herself. She went into the kitchen about 8.55 p.m. and shouted to her daughter that her husband was dead. He was tied up in an armchair. There was blood "all over the place".
She freed her daughter who ran to a neighbour's for help.
She described the men as slim and very agile. They all wore black clothes and had black stockings over their boots. She saw two shotguns. The men spoke with Dublin accents, Mrs Fanning said.
She said her daughter had about £160 in her bag but the men: didn't take that or her own purse. She later noticed her engagement ring, a brooch and a gold chain were missing.
Ms Rose Fanning said she took bread from a freezer in a garage outside her home on the night of February 6th 1996 and was going back into the house when she saw a masked man wearing black and carrying a baseball bat.
She thought he was playing a joke but then realised it was not a joke. She said she hit him and he hit her back with the bat. She said she knew she was beaten and agreed to lie down. She said the man dragged her by the hair and she went into the kitchen on her hands and knees.
There were two other men in the house, both armed and dressed in black, she said. The men were asking about money and the man with the bat was searching the house. She and her mother and father lay on the floor and she held hands with her mother, Ms Fanning said.
Then she and her mother were taken to a downstairs bedroom and tied together. She said one of the men said: "We never hurt any woman or girl. We're not like the f.....g tinkers that hurt the elderly.
She said one man spoke a lot about the government and how unfair the system was.
Ms Fanning said one of the men asked her if she got her gold watch from her boyfriend. She replied she had and he said it was a nice watch and he'd leave it with her. She said one of the men put a pillow under her mother's head and pulled down her skirt which had ridden up.
She said one of the men said her father was a bad man who knew why they were there. The man had said her father would tell them why later. The man had said: "We're here for the cause," she said.
She said one of the men had knelt close to her and she could see he had green eyes, grey lashes, "a lot of wrinkles", grey stubble above and below his mouth and had uneven and discoloured teeth. The man had told her she was "a nice, refined, courageous girl" and they were going to fire a gun shot.
Ms Fanning said she heard her father saying: "Don't do it".
She heard a shot and her father said: "I'll never be gathered up." She heard her car engine and her father moaning and crying, and saying: "Rose, please come."
Earlier on February 6th, as she was returning from work about 7.30 p.m., she saw a car parked outside a house about three quarters of a mile from her home, Ms Fanning said. The car was green and she thought it was a Volkswagen Polo with a 95 D registration which included the number three.
The trial continues today before Mrs Justice McGuinness and a jury of six men and six women.