Courts

Innocent man with no involvement in crime shot six times, court hears

Christopher ‘Noel’ Kirwan died after being shot in head, chest, arm and abdomen, pathologist tells court

Michael Crotty denies the charges. Photograph: Collins Courts

Eoin Reynolds
Mon Jan 22 2024 - 18:09

An innocent man with no involvement in crime was shot six times and died from multiple gunshot injuries to his head, chest, arm and abdomen, a pathologist has told the Special Criminal Court.

State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan told the three-judge non-jury court on Monday that she examined the body of Christopher ‘Noel’ Kirwan one day after he was shot outside his Dublin home in December 2016. She identified eight separate injuries caused by six gunshots.

One of the bullets entered the right side of Mr Kirwan’s chest and damaged the aorta, the main artery bringing blood from the heart. The same bullet also damaged the lower lobe of the left lung, causing further bleeding and lung collapse. The resulting restriction of the normal function of the heart and lungs would have caused Mr Kirwan’s death, the pathologist said.

Further gunshot wounds, including to the chest, abdomen and two to the right arm caused blood loss and contributed to death. One bullet entered Mr Kirwan’s head below the right eye at a downward angle. It fractured Mr Kirwan’s right upper jaw and came to rest under the lower jaw where it was retrieved, intact.

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Dr Mulligan cited multiple gunshot injuries as the cause of death with no contributory factors. Toxicology tests were negative for drugs or alcohol.

Michael Crotty is on trial before the Special Criminal Court accused of facilitating Mr Kirwan’s murder by topping up a mobile phone for Sean McGovern, a man not before the courts.

In his opening speech before the court, Mr McGinn said the prosecution alleges that Mr Crotty purchased the mobile phone credit at a Spar shop in Naas, Co Kildare, on December 21st, 2016 on behalf of Mr McGovern. The prosecution alleges that Mr Crotty had known Mr McGovern for a number of years and that he made the purchase knowing that it would be used, or being reckless as to whether it would be used, in the commission of a serious crime.

Mr Crotty (40), of Slí Aonghusa, Aras na Rí, Cashel, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the single charge.

Mr McGinn also told the court that Mr Kirwan was shot dead as he sat in his Ford Mondeo car outside his Dublin home just after 5pm on December 22nd, 2016. The prosecution intends to call evidence that Mr Kirwan’s movements were being monitored by a tracking device that was attached to his car.

The background to the shooting, counsel said, is the attack at the Regency Hotel when David Byrne was shot dead and a number of others were injured after gunmen opened fire during a boxing weigh-in in 2016.

Mr McGinn said that attack led to a number of reprisals and “it appears, perhaps mistakenly, Noel Kirwan was thought to be connected to those who carried out the Regency [attack]”.

Mr Crotty denies the charge that between October 20th, 2016 and December 22nd, 2016, he helped to facilitate the murder of Mr Kirwan.

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