The trial of a man accused of shooting another man in Crumlin has collapsed after the victim refused to be cross-examined.
Mr Justice Paul Carney yesterday told Mr Daniel Doyle (26) that the only reason he wasn't spending the night in a cell was because he was in a wheelchair after he refused to answer questions put to him by defence counsel Mr Conor Devally SC.
The cross-examination of the witness was resumed yesterday morning but Mr Doyle refused to answer further questions. When asked by Mr Justice Carney if he was refusing to be cross-examined, he replied: "I'll be killed."
Mr Justice Carney then directed the jury to acquit Paul Hurley (19), of Clonmacnoise Road, Crumlin, Dublin, who had denied attempting to murder Mr Doyle on August 15th, 2005, in Crumlin. He was also acquitted of a second charge of causing serious harm to Mr Doyle.
Mr Doyle was paralysed from the chest down in the shooting and is still living in a nursing home.
Mr Justice Carney told the jury that in a case when the principal witness in particular refused to be cross-examined then that trial was not proceeding in accordance with the law.
Mr Devally told the Central Criminal Court that Mr Hurley had no knowledge of any threats made to Mr Doyle but that "there appear to be other characters mentioned in the book of evidence who are not willing to be mentioned in this court".
The problem arose on Tuesday afternoon when Mr Devally started his cross-examination of Mr Doyle. He referred to a statement that Mr Doyle had given gardaí from hospital a couple of days after the attack.
Mr Doyle refused to answer questions concerning a conversation between him and an unnamed man earlier on the day of the shooting concerning the level of gun crime in the Crumlin area and refused to accept he had made the statement.
He said he did not remember being given a lift to an off-licence in a Mitsubishi Colt by a man who was talking on a mobile phone.
He refused to comment on a line in the statement which read: "He usually says there's my number if you want a bit of work but this time he just said take my number."
Mr Doyle reacted angrily when Mr Devally pressed him for an answer. He insisted "if it's not my statement, if I didn't sign it, how can it be my words?" He refused to name the man who gave him a lift because he was not in court to defend himself. He said if it had been important the man would have been called as a witness.
Mr Doyle told Paul Coffey SC, prosecuting, the circumstances of the night he was shot. He told the court he was drinking in Sundrive Park, also known as Eamonn Ceannt Park, in Crumlin at about 10.30 on August 15th, 2005, when three men approached him with a gun and started firing at him.
Mr Doyle said he recognised one of the men as the accused, Mr Hurley. "I thought nothing of it because I recognised one of them. As they came towards me I saw a flash and heard a bang and I started to run, then the next thing I knew, I was on the ground." Mr Doyle said the middle man was carrying what looked like a rifle and the man he identified as Mr Hurley was on his left. He said Mr Hurley did not have his face covered but wore a baseball cap.
Mr Doyle told Mr Coffey he brought his hand up to shield his face from further shots. "I heard one of them say 'you got him in the head' so I went along with that. I played dead." He said he heard one of the men tell Mr Hurley to get his phone. "They says 'Hurley, get his phone' and he said 'no, I'm not touching him'." He felt someone turn him over and start searching him.
Mr Doyle said his hand was still over his face when he was turned and he could see who was searching him. It was Mr Hurley.
He described dragging himself towards the gate of the park where he tried to alert two gardaí. They didn't hear him but a man at a bus stop called them back.