A MISTRIAL was recorded yesterday in the trial before Galway Circuit Criminal Court of Mr Kevin Gillane - a brother in law of murder victim Mrs Philomena Gillane - who was accused of unlawfully wounding her brother with a slash hook in a fight which broke out between the two families last year.
Judge Harvey Kenny discharged the jury after a defence objection during the testimony of a witness, Mrs Nora Gordon mother of Mrs Gillane.
The court had heard that Mrs Gillane had been "most foully murdered" and that the Gordon family, rightly or wrongly, had suspected the Gillanes had some part in her death during May 1994.
Mr Kevin Gillane pleaded not guilty to unlawfully wounding Mr Martin Gordon at Glenbrack Gort, Co Galway, on June 14th last to common assault of him and to assault causing actual bodily harm to Mr Patrick Gordon, another brother of Mrs Gillane, on the same occasion.
Opening the case, Mr Anthony Kennedy SC, prosecuting, said that since Mrs Gillane's murder "hostility had been in air" between the Gillane and Gordon families, and a number of incidents had arisen before the violent altercation at the Gillane home in Gort.
On November 20th, 1994, the Gordon brothers had called to the Gillanes' house outside Gort, which had led to the Gillanes' solicitor sending a letter warning them to keep away from their property. In the letter, it was alleged the Gordons had shouted: "Come out, you bastards. You cunts. Bring out the knife and gun to us."
The solicitor had told the Gordons, who lived about 40 miles away in Caltra, that they appeared to know who was involved in Mrs Gillane's murder and suggested they give their information to the Garda.
Another incident occurred on the first anniversary of Mrs Gillane's death at the home of the Gillanes' sister, Mrs Martina Riordan, who was looking after John Gillane (then aged 2), a son of Philomena and Pat Gillane. The Gordons had felt they were being denied access to the child and their call to Mrs Riordan, accompanied by a newspaper photographer, was "most aggressive". The Garda had been called.
On June 14th, Mrs Gordon, accompanied by her two sons Martin and Paddy and her daughter Bridie, had left home intending to visit Mrs Gillane's grave near Gort but decided to call to the Gillanes. A fight had taken place involving the Gordon and Gillane brothers.
All four had sustained injuries, but Mr Martin Gordon had been seriously injured with a slash hook wound which stretched from the left side of his abdomen to the middle of his stomach. Statements, he noted, referred to his "guts hanging out". The defendant would claim he had used the slash hook in self defence.
A boy had seen the fight and would testify the Gordons took a baseball bat and pick axe handle from Mr Kevin Gillane and one of them beat Pat Gillane, but the defendant later came back with a slash hook which he raised to ward off blows being administered by Mr Martin Gordon.
The case cent red on the use of the slash hook and what constituted "reasonable self defence without going over the top in retaliation", Mr Kennedy said.
Mr Martin Gordon said he called to the house because he wanted to talk to Mr Pat Gillane. "Since the death of my sister, he was always running away from us. I wanted to ask if he knew anything about her death."
He said the defendant struck out at Mr Paddy Gordon and himself with "two handles". While he managed to take a base ball bat off him, he denied ever hitting Mr Gillane, who later jumped in front of him with a slash hook. "He stabbed me with a briar hook. He wanted to kill me."
He had run to the car where his mother was and they drove to the local Garda station before he was transferred to hospital by ambulance.
In reply to Mr Peter Charleton SC, defending, Mr Gordon said he could not say if it was the Gordon family's view that Pat Gillane had been responsible for his wife's death. He later accepted the family had become more convinced of this.
He said he "couldn't say" if during a visit by the Gordons to John Gillane it had been said by them "that the child's father had killed the child's mother", but accepted they had been asked to leave Mrs Riordan's home. The court heard that following the incidents, Mrs Riordan felt she could no longer mind the child, who was now in foster care.
Mr Gordon denied he was so upset over his sister's death that he represented a danger in any meeting with the Gillanes. He denied calling to the Gillanes to rough them up" or saying "you killed my sister and I'm going to kill you". He was unaware of any incident when the Gillanes were called "cowards" after they left an anniversary Mass for Mrs Gillane early.
Mrs Gordon said that she went to the Gillanes to get information about Philomena's death. She had become terrified by the row which erupted after her sons got out of the car. "I heard Paddy saying, `don't kill me . . . don't kill me'," she claimed.
Following defence objections, the judge discharged the jury.