AN alibi witness who helped win the retrial of a man convicted of attempting to murder a leading loyalist yesterday told of his shame at not coming forward earlier. The 30 year old man said in Belfast Crown Court he had been "frightened and scared" and did not want to get involved.
However, he said he was "gutted and sick" and decided to clear his conscience when Stephen Larkin was jailed for 16 years for attempting to murder self confessed loyalist paramilitary leader Johnny Adair in March, 1993.
The man supports Larkin's claims that he was at a friend's funeral when the shooting took place.
The witness claimed he and Larkin (25), from Jamaica Road, spent the afternoon drinking in an Ardoyne club, the Highfield Club, after the funeral. He remembered hearing a news flash at around lunchtime about a shooting on the Shankill but Larkin was in the club and was still there when he left for home at around 5.30 p.m.
Yet the following week, when he returned to the club, he heard Larkin was arrested for the Berlin Street murder attempt. He said he felt "total and utter disbelief". He did not come forward because he was afraid of the consequences.
Under cross examination, he said he was certain Larkin could not have left the club without him knowing and rejected suggestions he was providing the alleged alibi out of friendship.
The trial continues.