A witness who implicated a 27-year-old Dublin man in a double murder retracted her statement as she feared he would kill her, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Ms Rachel Stephens, who is now in the Witness Protection Programme, made several statements implicating Mr Mark Desmond in the murders of Mr Darren Carey and Mr Patrick Murray. The victims, aged 19 and 20 were shot in the head at a close range sometime between December 28th, 1999, and January 9th and 10th, 2000, when their bodies were recovered from the Grand Canal.
The court heard that during depositions at Dublin District Court on September 6th, 2001, Ms Stephens retracted her earlier statement implicating Mr Desmond in the murders. She was due to return the following week.
Det Insp Padraig Kennedy told the court that he spoke to Ms Stephens on September 13th at the Bridewell Garda station. On the advice of the DPP, he wanted to establish why she retracted her evidence and if she had been threatened.
Reading from notes of that meeting, Insp Kennedy told the court Ms Stephens said she "was terrified". He said Ms Stephens indicated she had lied on the stand on September 6th when she retracted. She told him she believed "Mark Desmond would have her killed the way he killed those young fellows".
Insp Kennedy said Ms Stephens also told him that Ms Melissa Desmond, the accused's sister, had called to her home the night before the depositions.
The detective said Ms Stephens indicated she was prepared to return to court on September 14th and tell the truth. Questioned about the differences in the witnesses' testimony between the 6th and 14th, he replied: "My Lord she appeared very afraid on the 6th and she appeared very nervous on the 14th as well."
Mr Desmond - who is defending himself - put it to Insp Kennedy that Ms Stephens was lying and that he had spent "two and a half years in f . . . ing prison because some junkie is telling lies".
"No My Lord," the witness replied, there were also firearms offences involved.
Mr Desmond further claimed the State "wanted to seek a way out of the mess that they got themselves into with Rachel Stephens" by introducing "trumped-up" firearms charges.
Insp Kennedy told the court Ms Stephens was the chief prosecution witness in the murder trial due to begin on Monday last. However, four days before the trial she approached gardaí attached to the Witness Protection Programme on November 14th expressing concern about the contents of her statement.
He said that on Sunday November 15th - following discussions with counsel for the State - he met Ms Stephens at Terenure Garda station, where, during the course of a 90-minute interview, he read out the content of her statements. She indicated most of the pages were true but one page was not.
Reading from notes of the interview, Insp Kennedy said Ms Stephens indicated that references including "they owed money to Whacker" and Amsterdam were true, but those relating to "the house in the woods" were not. She said the part about the drugs being "his [the accused's] and Noel Foy's" was correct. She alleged she was warned to "keep my mouth shut" about "the drugs" and Amsterdam but indicated her willingness to come to court and testify against the accused.
Insp Kennedy said he conveyed this information to the DPP. On Monday, the murder charges were dropped and four firearms charges were preferred against Mr Desmond. Towards the end of the proceedings, Mr Patrick Gageby SC handed in correspondence from the Chief State Solicitor's Office to Mr Desmond's former solicitors dated October 25th, 2002. Included was an indictment listing four firearms charges. Mr Gageby requested that this be admitted as an exhibit.
Mr Desmond, formerly of Lally Road, Ballyfermot, has pleaded not guilty to unlawful possession of three shotguns, one long rifle and one 12-gauge shotgun cartridge with intent to endanger life at Lally Road between October 1st 1999 and December 17th 2000.
Throughout yesterday's hearing, Mr Justice Liam McKechnie warned Mr Desmond to refrain from making frequent outbursts and to confine himself to the proper cross-examination of witnesses.
The trial continues on Monday.