A retired Garda detective has told the Central Criminal Court that gardaí were "surrounded" and "overpowered" by up to 40 hostile men at a Traveller's funeral in Sligo in May, 1999.
Former Det Garda Jay Callaghan told the jury that when he reached the cemetery, he heard a gunshot "ring out" in front of him. "I saw a man running down the path with a gun in his hand."
He said the man threw the gun into the hedge. He saw another detective catch a "hold of this man and tried to arrest him".
The two gardaí, he told the jury, were then "surrounded by 30-40 hostile men". The crowd shouted: "Let him f...ing go" "We were overpowered at this stage. I shouted to Det Sgt Farragher to let him go due to the hostility of the crowd."
Five members of the one family have denied the murder of Mr Patrick Ward on May 10th, 1999, at Carrownanty Cemetery, Ballymote, Co Sligo, before the funeral of his uncle, also Patrick Ward.
Mr Michael McDonagh snr (58); Mr Martin McDonagh snr (53); Mr Michael McDonagh jnr (29); Mr Patrick McDonagh (33) and Mr Martin McDonagh jnr (26), all from Hertfordshire in England, have denied the murder.
They also deny the attempted murder of Mr Patrick Ward snr, Mr Patrick Ward jnr and Mr Edward Ward on the same date.
Mr Ward (38), a father of six originally from Galway but resident in Manchester, had travelled to Ireland for the funeral of his uncle in Ballymote when he was fatally shot.
On the day of the funeral of Patrick Ward (47), Ballymun, Dublin, gardaí in Sligo had organised a plan for the funeral. There was a heavy Garda presence on the roads around the graveyard, with gardaí checking all vehicles for weapons.
Retired Garda Aiden Scanlon said on the day of the fatal shooting, he was conducting a Garda checkpoint on the Sligo road. He recovered a hedge knife, a golf club and an iron bar from the vehicles of Travellers attending the Ward funeral.
After a number of vehicles broke through the checkpoint at high speed, Garda Scanlon was ordered immediately to the graveyard. When he reached it, he saw a "large bloodstain 20 yards long" on a nearby footpath.
Garda Gerard Murphy told the jury that he arrived at 1.45 p.m. at the new entrance to the graveyard to search Travellers attending the funeral. He said there were about 45-50 Travellers at the entrance.
The group, Garda Murphy said were reasonably quiet, apart from five or six youths who were agitated and shouting: "The cheek of those Wards coming up from Galway to bury somebody".
Garda Murphy and five other gardaí were about to search the group when a green Toyota Hi-ace arrived from the Tubbercurry direction.
A group of Travellers attacked this van with stones and missiles.
Garda Murphy said he heard between eight and 12 gunshots being fired. Garda John Higgins, attached to the Garda ballistics section, told the jury that he was at the post-mortem of the deceased. He saw a bullet entry wound on his back. A .22 calibre bullet was removed.
Garda Higgins said 13 rounds of live ammunition were discovered at the scene of the shooting. This ammunition was in "very good condition" and was "suitable for automatic pistols".
The trial continues before Mr Justice O'Neill.