Man denies threatening to kill garda
A man accused of threatening to kill a garda he had a "beef" with has claimed the garda misheard him.
Stephen Kennedy (aged 27), of Belcamp Grove, Priorswood claimed in evidence that Sergeant Gerard Maher was walking away from him on October 28, 2006 when he said: "Your word is gold in Coolock and there’s a €100,000 on my head because of this."
He told his counsel, Mr Cathal McGreal BL, he was referring to Sgt Maher’s investigation into the murder of a friend.
Sgt Maher said in his evidence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that the accused threatened: "There is €100,000 on your head and you won’t see it coming."
He also said Mr Kennedy told him: "There are two types of people I hate. Rats and people who talk about me."
Mr Kennedy identified himself, Sgt Maher and a now deceased acquaintance, Mr Richard Callaghan, from CCTV footage of the incident around the garda’s car in a carpark outside a North Side Shopping Centre pub.
He told Mr McGreal that Sgt Maher singled him out from "400" people in the carpark and told him to move on or he would be arrested.
He said he didn’t co-operate with Sgt Maher but decided he would "have a laugh" with him about his driving skills and the dent in his unmarked Opel Vectra car.
He said when he asked him "what happened your wing?", Sgt Maher replied: "What happened your friend?"
Mr Kennedy said he responded: "That’s your job and according to what I’m hearing, you’re not doing your job right."
He indicated on the CCTV footage that he told Sgt Maher there was €100,000 on his own (accused’s) head when the garda turned his back and was walking away.
Prosecution counsel, Mr Bernard Condon BL, put it to Mr Kennedy, in cross-examination, that Sgt Maher mentioned nothing about the reference to the damaged car wing in his evidence and suggested the accused believed he was "a big fat perjurer".
He added that Mr Kennedy seemed to have "a very conveniently good memory of some parts of the night and a very conveniently poor memory of other parts of the night".
The trial continues before Judge Patricia Ryan and a jury of nine men and three women.
