The brother of a Dublin man who was shot dead in a pub told a murder trial at the Central Criminal Court that his brother had lived in fear of a gang.
A brother of the deceased, Mr Michael Griffin from Liffey Valley, Clondalkin was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of Shay Wildes (36) from Corbally Park, Tallaght, who denies murdering Mr Declan Griffin (32) from Coolock, in the Horse and Jockey pub, Inchicore on April 5th, 2003.
Mr Michael Griffin, a JCB driver, said that on the day of the killing his brother asked him for €2,000 to help pay for protection from the gang allegedly offered by Shay Wildes.
"He just didn't seem to be himself and the phone kept ringing," said Mr Michael Griffin. "I knew there was something going on."
Before leaving for a meeting in the Horse and Jockey pub with Mr Wildes and Sandro D'Ambrosio (30) from Inchicore, who operated as a go-between, Mr Declan Griffin told his brother that he was "wary" of them. After one call to his mobile phone he said: "That's them again."
Mr Michael Griffin, also known as 'Mixer', lent the deceased €2,000 in new €100 notes. He was later called upon to identify his brother's fatally wounded body in Dublin City Morgue.
Mr Declan Griffin arrived in the pub around 6pm on the Saturday evening, and sat down with a 7-UP beside his two colleagues. He handed over €5,000 to Mr Wildes; a third of the agreed fee. It is the State's case that Mr Wildes then shot Mr Griffin.
Ms Sandra Carroll, a female employee of the Horse and Jockey pub who was present at the time also gave evidence today. She spoke of the "hysterical" reaction to the shooting.
Shortly before a group had just entered with a baby buggy. She described how most people headed for the back fire-exit to vacate the premises, and that she pushed the release bar to let them out.
Ms Sharon Mc Kenna described how she spun around at the sound of the blast, letting her pint crash to the floor, and of the panic which ensued as women screamed and hurried their children out the back of the pub. Most witnesses thought the bang was a fire-cracker until other customers began streaming away from the body, still sitting upright beneath a window at the front of the premises.
Another witness, Mr Patrick McCabe, who approached Mr Griffin after he had been shot, thought that he was alive and told the manager to call for an ambulance. "There was still smoke coming out of the side of his head...His eyes were rolling. He started gurgling."
When the witness heard the ambulance he went outside and flagged it over to the front of the pub.
Mr Declan Griffin was pronounced dead at 1.35 a.m. the following morning in St James's Hospital. The cause of death was laceration to the brain and inter-cranial haemorrhaging.
The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Barry White and the jury of six men and six women.