A protected witness who claims to have handled drugs for a man who is on trial for firearms offences said that he lived in fear of the accused man after he [the accused] had allegedly stabbed him at a Christmas party in 1999.
Mr Jonathon Desmond was giving evidence yesterday in the trial of his cousin, Mr Mark Desmond, who is charged with unlawful possession of firearms with intent to endanger life.
The witness told the Central Criminal Court that he handled drugs in Dublin on behalf of Mark Desmond and collected money at Fatima Mansions and at Bulfin Road, Inchicore, which he then left in a flat in Meath Street.
The court heard that Jonathon Desmond witnessed the accused man allegedly organising heroin deals in Amsterdam in late 1999. It was further alleged that Mr Darren Carey brought money to Amsterdam for the deals and that Mr Patrick Murray acted as a courier on the return journey to Dublin. Both men were shot dead around New Year's Eve in 1999 and their bodies were recovered from the Grand Canal at Karneystown Bridge, Co Kildare.
Mark Desmond, defending himself, put it to the witness that, in his statement of January 2000, he made no mention of drugs allegedly belonging to him [the accused\]. "At this particular time, I was in fear. Mark Desmond had just stabbed me and left me for dead," the witness replied.
The accused then put it to Jonathon Desmond that he had never been charged with the importation of drugs. "I haven't brought drugs in, my lord, Mark Desmond has." He added that he had been "conned" into going to Amsterdam. "I did not know there was any drugs involved until I got there."
The witness said that he underwent surgery for stab wounds to his arm, allegedly inflicted by the accused at a party at Christmas in 1999. He had been in "poor condition" when he was released from hospital on December 30th.
The accused put it to the witness that a number of people told gardaí that they heard three shots coming from the Karneystown Bridge area at about 7.15 p.m. on the following day, New Year's Eve.
Mark Desmond suggested to Jonathon Desmond that he fitted the description of a man seen acting suspiciously in the area at that time. "Did you let those shots off, Jonathon?"
"My lord, that's a despicable accusation," the witness replied, adding that he had been at his mother's house in Dublin at that time.
The witness told the court that the accused showed him a number of firearms at the side of 100 Lally Road, Ballyfermot, sometime in December 1999, which he [the witness\] held for a few moments.
"They were not my drugs and they were not my guns, my lord," the witness said. "I viewed those guns at 100 Lally Road. They were shown to me by Mark Desmond."
Mark Desmond (27), 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, Ballyfermot, Dublin, between October 1st 1999 and February 17th 2000.
The trial continues today.