A FRESH case arising out of the murder in 2007 of Belfast man Edward Burns may be taken in Belfast.
The murder trial of Gerard Mackin (28), who was charged with the shooting of the 36-year-old father of five and the attempted murder of another man, collapsed in Dublin on Thursday, the third day of the hearing, after the State entered a nolle prosequi.
The defendant, originally from Whiterock, west Belfast, but with an address in Raheen Close, Tallaght, Dublin, had opted for the case to be heard in the Special Criminal Court under the terms of the Criminal Law Jurisdiction Act (1976), which facilitates trials in the Republic arising from murders in Britain or Northern Ireland.
Evidence was heard over two days in the High Court in Belfast before moving to the Special Criminal Court in Dublin. During the hearing of evidence in Belfast earlier this week Damien O’Neill, the chief prosecution witness, refused to give evidence as he feared for his life.
On Tuesday he told Belfast High Court judge Mr Justice Ronald Weatherup, accompanied on the bench by three judges of the Special Criminal Court: “I have been threatened that if I give evidence I will be shot dead.”
He claimed he had been visited twice within three weeks by figures “from the republican movement”. Warned that he could be held to be contempt of court if he did not give evidence, Mr O’Neill said: “My life is at stake.”
Legal sources in Dublin said last night that any decision to proceed with another case lay with the DPP in the Republic. Despite the collapse of the case on Thursday there is no limit to the number of retrials that can be ordered. However, one security source in Belfast suggested that the case could proceed to Belfast.
Mr Mackin has already been tried twice in relation to the murder four years ago. He was originally convicted but this was subsequently quashed on appeal in 2008 after it was found that vital prosecution evidence had not been proven during his original trial.
Mr Burns, a taxi driver from Ardoyne, died after he was shot in the head and his body left at Bog Meadows in west Belfast.
His friend, 38-year-old Joseph Jones also from Ardoyne, was found beaten to death in north Belfast hours after the shooting.
The Independent Monitoring Commission has said it believed the two men were former members of the Continuity IRA and were killed in a feud by other dissident republicans.
The IMC reported in November 2007: “The two CIRA murders [of Mr Burns and Mr Jones] were carried out by members from Belfast. We believe they were in response to the establishment of a rival group in the same area by the two victims, who were former Belfast members. A third person was injured in the same attack.”
The family of Mr Burns has vowed to fight on despite the collapse of the case against Mr Mackin on Thursday.