A key State witness has told the Special Criminal Court that a man accused of murdering journalist Veronica Guerin told him that the crime reporter's last words were: "Don't shoot me in the face." State witness Mr Julian Clohessy (26) told Mr John McCrudden QC, defending, there was "every chance" that Mr Brian Meehan told him the journalist's last words during a conversation in the POD night-club in Dublin shortly after her murder in June 1996.
He also said it was "quite possible" that Mr Meehan had told him he had replied: "F . . . you, you bitch" to Ms Guerin. Mr Clohessy, who is under the witness protection programme, denied a suggestion by Mr McCrudden that he was " a brazen liar" and that the alleged conversation was "a complete fabrication" made up by him under the influence of drugs and drink.
Earlier Mr Clohessy told the court that during a conversation with Mr Meehan at the POD on July 11th, 1996, he admitted his involvement in the Guerin murder and told him he was there.
It was the seventh day of the trial of Mr Meehan (34), of no fixed abode, formerly of Clifton Court, Dublin, and Stanaway Road, Crumlin, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Guerin (36) at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin, on June 26th, 1996.
He also denies 16 charges that he imported cannabis resin between July 1st, 1994 and October 6th, 1996, that he possessed cannabis resin for sale or supply on the same dates and that on or out October 3rd, 1996, at Unit 1B, Greenmount Industrial Estate, Harold's Cross, Dublin, he had cannabis resin for sale or supply.
He has also pleaded not guilty to having a Sten sub-machine gun, silencer barrel, two magazines, a 9 mm Agram machine pistol, five Walther semi-automatic pistols, four magazines and 1,057 rounds of ammunition with intent to endanger life at Oldcourt Road, Tallaght, Dublin, between November 10th, 1995 and October 3rd, 1996.
Mr Clohessy told Mr Peter Charleton SC, prosecuting, that he worked at a mens-wear shop in the GPO Arcade off Henry Street in Dublin. In the summer of 1995 a man who can only be identified by order of the court as Mr D came into the shop. Mr Meehan also came into the shop later with Mr D and other men. Mr Clohessy said the men "all loved clothes" and bought some of the more expensive lines fairly frequently.
Mr Clohessy said that Paul Ward, who is serving a life sentence for Ms Guerin's murder, came in to the shop also and would buy clothes every so often.
He began to socialise with this group of men and would sometimes go out with them once or twice a week to bars and night-clubs. Mr Clohessy said he went on holiday with his girlfriend to Cyprus on June 15th, 1996 and returned on June 29th. He saw an item on the television news there about the murder of Ms Guerin and said he was "shocked" as his father had been "a big fan" of hers.
He went to Manchester to see Steve Collins fight Nigel Benn on the weekend of July 6th and 7th. Mr D paid for his ticket as he had no money after the holiday in Cyprus.
On Thursday, July 11th, he met a group of men and women, including Mr Meehan and Mr D, at The Brasserie bar off Grafton Street and they went to the POD night-club. Mr Clohessy said he had heard that another man, identified as Mr A, was involved in the Guerin murder. He asked Mr Meehan about this man's involvement and what the story was about the Guerin murder.
Mr Meehan told him that Mr A was a drug-dealer and was in danger of being exposed by Ms Guerin's work and this would end his career. "At that point he looked at me in a way that I could not forget. He said he was there, he said he was involved. He led me to believe that he was there at Veronica Guerin's murder and he was involved in Veronica Guerin's murder. I remember what he said to me," he said.
Mr Clohessy said that after Mr Meehan said this the conversation "abruptly stopped" and they were joined by other people. He said he was arrested by the gardai in October 1996 and questioned about drugs, guns and money.
The day after he was released he was told Mr Meehan wanted to see him and he went with his friend Mr Paul Smullen to a bar in Crumlin where they met Mr Meehan and his father, Kevin, and Mr D. Mr Meehan, Mr D and Mr Clohessy went outside and they talked about Mr Clohessy's arrest and questioning.
Mr Clohessy said he was "very confused and very angry" that he had been arrested. At one stage he told Mr Meehan that the gardai thought he did the Guerin murder.
Later that month he was in the menswear shop when a man came in carrying a mobile phone and told him someone wanted to speak to him. Mr Meehan was on the other end of the phone and told him to walk to the door but he said he was too busy and the conversation ended.
Cross-examined by Mr Mc Crudden, Mr Clohessy admitted that he had used cannabis, cocaine and ecstasy but only on a "social" basis. He had been supplied with cannabis and cocaine by Charles Bowden, who is due to give evidence in the trial, and Bowden had not charged him for the drugs.
Mr Clohessy said he had stayed at Bowden's house on the Navan Road several times and admitted that Bowden was a friend of his but he denied he was trying to minimise Bowden's role in the Guerin murder.
He admitted he had shared a bedroom with Mr Meehan on the trip to Manchester and said that Mr Meehan had paid for a jumper for him because he was short of money. He said there was no occasion on the Manchester trip when he could raise the question of Mr Meehan's role in the Guerin murder as there were always other people around.
Mr Clohessy denied a suggestion by Mr McCrudden that the conversation with Mr Meehan at the POD was "a complete fabrication possibly underpinned by drugs and alcohol", but admitted that on the night they went to the POD, he had been drinking and it was possible he had taken drugs.
Mr Clohessy said he had discussed the Guerin murder with Mr Smullen, his closest friend, in a pub on Bath Avenue in Rings end five days after the POD conversation. He said he could not remember if he had told Mr Smullen what the journalist's last words were, but he did remember that he had read them in a newspaper.
When pressed if he had told Mr Smullen what Mr Meehan had told him were the last words, Mr Clohessy said: "There is every chance that could have been brought up in the conversation with Brian Meehan in the POD."
The trial continues today.