Det Garda Jerry McCabe was killed by a bullet in the back which collapsed both his lungs and severed his spinal column, the Special Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster said Det Garda McCabe was hit by three bullets, one of which went into the right side of his back and exited through the left side after shattering one of his ribs and severing his spinal column. She said the garda's death was caused by "haemorrhage, shock and lacerations of both lungs due to a gunshot wound to the back of thorax".
"Death would have been very rapid," she added. She was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of four men accused of the capital murder of Det Garda McCabe (52), a father of five, during an abortive post office van robbery at Adare, in Co Limerick, on June 7th, 1996. The charge carries a mandatory sentence of 40 years' imprisonment on conviction.
A fifth man also denies charges connected with the murder and an attempted post office van robbery. The four men facing capital murder charges are Mr Pearse McCauley (34), from Strabane, Co Tyrone, with no fixed address, and three Co Limerick men, Mr Jeremiah Sheehy (36), of Abbey Park, Rathkeale; Mr Michael O'Neill (46), of Lisheen Park, Patrickswell, and Mr Kevin Walsh (42), also of Lisheen Park. Mr O'Neill, Mr Sheehy, Mr McCauley and Mr Walsh pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Det Garda McCabe in Adare on June 7th, 1996, and to the attempted murder of his colleague Det Garda Ben O'Sullivan on the same date.
They also denied the possession of firearms with intent to endanger life at Adare on June 7th, 1996, conspiracy to commit a robbery in Adare between June 5th and 8th, 1996, and possession of a quantity of assorted ammunition with intent to endanger life at Adare on June 7th, 1996. The four also pleaded not guilty to the unlawful possession of two rifles, a handgun and shotgun at Clonolea, Toomevara, Nenagh, Co Tipperary on June 7th, 1996, and to possession of three shotgun cartridges at Clonolea on the same date.
Mr John Quinn (30), of Faha, Patrickswell, Co Limerick, denied the unlawful possession of ammunition at Patrickswell, Co Limerick, on June 6th, 1996, and to conspiring with others between June 5th and 8th, 1996, to commit a robbery at Adare.
Dr Bolster said she went to the scene of the shooting in Adare and examined the body of Det McCabe in the unmarked Garda car. She saw a pool of blood around the handbrake and Det McCabe's trousers were bloodstained. There were several holes in the back of his jacket and shirt. In his pockets she found a heavily bloodstained summons form, a pay slip, keys and a Garda Representative Association diary.
Dr Bolster carried out a post-mortem examination on the body at Limerick Regional Hospital and she said she found metal fragments in a wound in Det McCabe's back. She found multiple abrasions on his right arm, face and head. Three bullets had hit Det McCabe, one in the right shoulder, one in the back and one in the back of his right upper arm.
The bullet in the shoulder had fractured his shoulder blade and she found tiny pieces of metal in the wound. The bullet that entered his back had shattered his eighth rib and vertebrae, totally severing the spinal column and tearing into the lungs and lacerating the pulmonary vein and aorta, the main vessel carrying blood from the heart to the rest of the body.
She also recovered a piece of metal from the upper lobe of the left lung. Both lungs were collapsed and there were lacerations to both the left and right lungs. She also found multiple tiny metal fragments embedded in the back of his scalp and one fragment was embedded in the membrane surrounding the skull but had not penetrated the skull.
Dr Nicholas Van Kuyk, a Dutch GP who lives in Adare, told the court that he received a call from the Adare postmistress shortly before 7 a.m. on June 7th, 1996. He went from his home to the post office, which was 300 yards away. An ambulance had not yet arrived and he found that there were two policemen in plain clothes in an unmarked police car. "I could see that the car had been badly shot up. The person in the passenger seat was slumped over and wasn't moving. I had been told by the postmistress that she thought he was dead," he said.
Dr Van Kuyk said he carried out a quick examination of Det Garda O'Sullivan who was "obviously in very bad pain, but his vital functions were stable and he was not in immediate danger." The doctor said he carried out a quick examination of Det McCabe but could find no heart action. He pronounced him dead at 7.10 a.m.
Sgt Michael Gallagher, Henry Street, Limerick, said he identified Det McCabe to Dr Bolster at 2.07 p.m. at the scene in Adare. Det Sgt Brendan McArdle of the Ballistics Section said he took possession of an Uzi submachine gun from the back of the Garda car. The gun was in its case, was not loaded and the safety catch was on. He also found a large number of discharged 7.62x39 mm cartridge cases around the unmarked Garda car in Adare.
He later examined a black two-door Mitsubishi Pajero which had crashed into the back of the Garda car and found 58 rounds of similar ammunition in a sports carrier back in the rear of the vehicle. He also found 66 rounds of 9 mm parabellum ammunition, 27 rounds of .22 ammunition, and 18 shotgun cartridges. Det Sgt McArdle said he found a Tupperware container, wiring and matchboxes in the front of the vehicle and two incendiary devices inside the Tupperware box. He found a multi-band scanner positioned between the two front seats, which was programmed to a frequency which could quite clearly receive messages from the control room at Henry Street Garda station in Limerick.
Det Sgt McArdle also found a hold-all bag with a large amount of plastic industrial ties. "I have come across them where people used them as improvised handcuffs. I am aware that the Israeli security forces use them widely when they seize prisoners," he said. He also found clothes, balaclavas and guns.
Mr Oliver Noone, who was working in the Dunraven Arms Hotel in Adare at the time, said he was staying in a house on Adare's main street. He was awoken by a loud bang and then heard a loud noise which seemed like shots. He heard something like "Oh Jesus" as if someone was in distress or pain. He looked out his window and saw a man holding a weapon with a large magazine. The man was holding it in a down position facing into the Garda car. He also saw a black Mitsubishi Pajero with the doors open and the wipers on. Cross-examined by Mr Anthony Sammon SC for Mr Walsh, Mr Noone agreed that he had heard "quick rapid fire".
When the trial resumed yesterday, Mr Patrick McEntee SC for Mr McCauley referred to an article on the trial which appeared in the Irish Independent of January 12th under Miriam Lord's by-line. Mr McEntee said the article was "a highly emotive and pejorative attack" against the accused and in particular Mr McCauley. He said his client regarded the article as calculated to damage the trial process. He said that his client did not indulge in any inappropriate conduct at the beginning of the trial and took the proceedings very seriously.
Mr McEntee said the article appeared to have the intention of prejudicing the readers of the newspaper and the public in general against the accused. Mr McEntee's comments were supported by counsel for Mr Walsh, Mr Sheehy and Mr O'Neill and Mr Justice Richard Johnson, presiding, said the court took notice of what had been said.