Garda witness admits 'adrenalin was running' when approaching attempted robbery suspects

A garda witness has told a trial that he was armed and full of adrenaline when he approached two men accused of taking part in an attempted robbery of a cash van.

A garda witness has told a trial that he was armed and full of adrenaline when he approached two men accused of taking part in an attempted robbery of a cash van.

Darren Keane (aged 25) and John Boylan (aged 25) are both alleged to have taken part in the attempted armed heist during which one raider was fatally wounded in a shoot out with gardaí.

Mr Keane of Foxdene Avenue, Clondalkin and Mr Boylan of Gandon Court, Lucan have pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to attempted robbery and possession of a sawn-off shotgun at Foxborough Road, Lucan on May 15, 2009.

On the third day of the trial a number of garda witnesses gave evidence of the surveillance of two cars which travelled from the city centre to the Lucan area in south Co Dublin.

By agreement from both legal teams these gardaí are not being named because of the nature of their roles in Garda surveillance operations.

One detective garda told Alexander Owens SC, prosecuting, that on the morning of the heist he observed two people leaving Murray Motors garage on Portland Street in the city centre.

He said that one man, identified to the jury as Mr Golf, was a passenger in a gold Toyota Avensis.

The detective said he kept the car under surveillance and later observed it travelled on the N4 towards Lucan along with a blue VW Golf right behind it.

He later observed Mr Golf driving the blue Golf towards the Centra shop on Foxborough Road.

The detective said when he came to the scene of the attempted robbery at Foxborough Road. he was told to “stay down” and he saw another garda walked towards a cash in transit van.

A garda colleague told the jury that he was aware that “something had gone down” on the Foxborough Road when he approached the two defendants on the nearby Foxdene Avenue.

He told Mr Owens that as he approached the men near the scene of the heist he saw both had mobile phones and saw one male drop a phone over the wall of a house.

He said the men identified themselves as the two accused and he took a mobile phone off Mr Keane and located the other phone that had been dropped by Mr Boylan.

The detective agreed with John Aylmer SC, defending Mr Keane, that he was in pursuit of a car that he believed had being involved in an armed robbery and that the “adrenalin was running”.

He said he had been told earlier to arm himself with his own personal firearm but that he did not feel he needed to draw his weapon because he did not believe the two men were armed.

Philip Murray gave evidence that on the morning of the incident a man he knew by the nickname “Del Boy” came into collect a car he had left in Mr Murray’s garage business.

Another detective garda told Mr Owens that he observed the Avensis travel from the city centre towards Lucan with Mr Golf as a front seat passenger.

He said he later saw the Avensis travelling with the blue VW Golf, now being driven by Mr Golf and that both cars took the Liffey Valley exit of the N4 and drove up to Newlands Road.

He said at around 11.45am he saw the Golf parked on Foxborough Walk before it was later moved and parked on Foxborough Road.

The court heard that the G4S cash in transit van drove past the Golf at around midday and at 12.08 pm the detective saw Mr Golf standing out of the Golf and speaking on his mobile phone.

Shortly afterwards the detective said he learned over the garda radio that an armed man had been seen running from the nearby car park of the Centra and he saw Mr Golf drive off at speed.

He said he heard the order “go, go, go” on the garda dispatch radio and was told the suspects “had guns out”.

He told the court he gave chase to the VW Golf but that Mr Golf drove off through a gap in the traffic on the wrong side of the road before driving the wrong way around a roundabout onto the Fonthill Road before his car was stopped by other garda on the Neilstown Road.

It is the prosecution case that the attempted robbery was “a joint enterprise” involving Mr Keane and Mr Boylan in the roles of “lookout and getaway men”.

Mr Owens told the jury they would have to decide whether the men were active participants in the robbery and whether they were part of a gang.

The trial, which is expected to last three weeks, continues before Judge Mary Ellen Ring and a jury of eight men and four women.

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