Hit man jailed for life for murdering Limerick bouncer
A hired hit man has been jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court after pleading guilty to the murder of a night club bouncer, who was shot in the head in front of his wife outside their Limerick home.
Englishman James Martin Cahill (aged 30), with an address at Highfield Lane, Quinton, Birmingham, was to be paid €10,000 for the murder of father-of-two Brian Fitzgerald who he shot in the back of the head after he fell to the ground.
The hit was ordered by members of a Limerick gang to whom Mr Fitzgerald had refused entry at Doc's nightclub in Limerick city, where he was head of security. They threatened to kill him and a shot was fired through his bedroom window in the December previous to his murder on November 29, 2002.
Detective Sergeant Seamus Nolan from Henry Street garda station told prosecuting counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, Cahill was one of two assailants who had gone to Mr Fitzgerald's house at Brookhaven Walk in Corbally in Limerick.
Both were wearing motorcycle helmets and waited in bushes for Mr Fitzgerald who was returning home from work in the early hours of the morning.
Detective Sergeant Nolan said Mr Fitzgerald struggled and shouted at the two men before a number of shots were discharged and he fell to the ground injured.
Cahill pursued him, caught up with him and shot him twice in the back of the head as he lay on the ground.
The State Pathologist found he died as a result of lacerations to his brain and a fractured skull due to bullet injuries. He had also been shot in the chest.
Gardaí went to see Cahill at Portaoise Prison in May this year after he expressed a wish to meet with them. There he appeared edgy and nervous and claimed: "They are going to kill me."
He made a request to be transferred to a more secure location, before he confessed to the murder and named other people alleged to be involved.
He told gardaí: "I shot him and no one else. I want to get this out of my system, I want to get this out in the open."
He said he had gone to a meeting before the murder where he first heard of the plans to kill Mr Fitzgerald. He said he was to be paid Euro10,000 in two tranches of €5,000 each.
He said a named individual showed him how to use a firearm and told him to "Put one in that c***'s head" before starting to laugh.
On the night of the murder he told gardaí how he pointed his gun at the back of Mr Fitzgerald's head and turned away as he pulled the trigger. He said his body was shaking as he carried out the killing.
Det Sgt Nolan said that Mr Fitzgerald was a law-abiding citizen who was doing his job. He had been confronted by a number of individuals who's behaviour he was not satisfied with on the premises.
After he refused them entry he was threatened by one individual that he would be killed and a shot was later fired through his bedroom window.
His wife Alice Fitzgerald witnessed the murder after she heard shouting and shots being fired outside her home.
Mrs Fitzgerald gave evidence in court that her children were aged just six and 15 months at the time of the murder.
She sobbed in the witness box as she said: "Brian was only one man in the world but he was all the world to me.
"Brian wasn't just my husband he was my best friend. He was a major part of my life. We grew up together," she said.
She said that they did not have much, but had worked hard for what they had. "We had planned for a future with my two sons, a future that we won't see now."
She spoke of how her husband, a keen rugby player, had a love of sport, which he got from his father and had passed onto his oldest son Aaron.
She said that Mr Fitzgerald had formed a strong bond with her sons who he looked after during the day. She said her eldest son was now "pining for the dad he lost" and that she only had to look into his eyes to see the hurt and emptiness the death had caused.
Her youngest son Evan had not had the chance to get to know his father.
She said that following the murder she had had to leave her job of 17 years as she was medically unfit for work and the family were now surviving on a widow's pension of €180 a week as her children feared she would not return home.
"There are days when I can't open my front door because of regular flashbacks. I can smell the smoke of the gunfire and the loud bangs I will never forget."
She added: "I feel I will never again be safe or happy. I have not spent one night in my home alone."
Mr Fitzgerald's parents Martin and Bridie were also in court for today's sentence hearing and she thanked her family for their support.
Cahill who has ten previous convictions in both Ireland and England for offences including the possession of firearms, burglary, larceny, criminal damage, interfering with a motor vehicle and wounding, apologised to the Fitzgerald family through his counsel Mr Brendan Nix SC.
Taking the witness stand he told Mr Justice Paul Carney: "I am willing to say that I will testify if a further case is coming."
He asked that all the evidence and the tapes relating to the case be kept in case he was not able to testify.
"I feel my life is in danger in prison, not just from prisoners but from prison officers because of what I feel in this case," he said.
"What I am trying to say is that I will testify against people, that's why I feel my life is in danger."
He alleged that gardaí had not brought others involved in the case to justice.
As he left court he shouted: "Ask him to bring the killers to justice."
Mr Justice Carney sentenced Cahill to a mandatory life sentence backdated to June 16.
He said: "I think I understand what the accused is saying."
However, he said that evidence from the case would be returned to the gardaí in accordance with the law. He directed that a transcript of the proceedings be placed on the court file.
Following the case Mr Fitzgerald's family said they had no further comment to make.
Gardaí confirmed that Cahill was, to date, the only person to have been charged with murder in this case but said others have been arrested and questioned. The investigation is ongoing.
