Murder witness tells how victim was shot in front of young son
A witness in the trial of a Wicklow man accused of murder saw a 27-year-old, father of two struggle to open the front door of his home while he was being repeatedly shot in the back by a hooded gunman, in front of his partner and young son.
A statement from the witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was read out to the court on the eleventh day of the trial of Garrett O’Brien (aged 37), who denies fatally shooting Seamus O’Byrne in the driveway of his home at Tymon Park North, Tallaght on March 13, 2009.
The witness, who gave his statement to gardaí shortly after the killing, was playing with a group of friends on the green area of Tymon Park North at the time of the shooting.
He noticed two men standing at a laneway acting suspiciously, he told the gardaí he had seen the same two men a few days earlier as he was walking home from school.
Some time later he noticed one of the men was walking in front of him; talking on a mobile phone with his right hand in his pocket.
He described the man as tall and fat and noted that he was wearing a dark hooded tracksuit top with the hood pulled up.
The witness told gardaí that moments after he passed the man he heard three loud bangs which he thought were bangers.
He turned around and saw Mr O’Byrne struggling with the keys to his front door and then saw the man on the phone shooting Mr O’Byrne in the back.
A woman was standing behind the gunman with a baby in her arms and was shouting; ‘’What are you doing?’’.
The court heard that the witness then ran away and passed a light coloured car he believed to be a Volkswagen Passat; as it was similar to his neighbour's car.
He was going to stop and ask the driver for help when he realised the man in the car was the other man he had seen earlier with the gunman.
Moments later the car drove past him at speed and he saw the gunman in the passenger seat.
It is the prosecution's case that Garrett O’Brien of Clover Hill, Bray was the hooded gunman and he escaped in a blue Volkswagen Passat.
They allege that Mr O’Brien was part of gang who had plotted, for two days prior to the
shooting, to kill Mr O’Byrne at his home
Mr O’Byrne’s girlfriend, Sharon Rattigan, previously told the court that a stocky, black-haired man, wearing a dark tracksuit with the hood pulled up, walked into their driveway at around 8pm and shot her partner as she was putting their young son into the car.
She ran at the gunman, who shot her in the leg and managed to wrestle the gun from him before he fled the scene.
The trial resumes tomorrow in the Central Criminal Court before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy.
