The owner of a motorcycle used in a gangland shooting, and who falsely claimed the vehicle had been stolen, has been given a four-year suspended sentence by Judge Michael White at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
Damien Murphy's motorcycle was used in the murder on February 1st, 2004, of Kenneth Byrne at St Theresa's Gardens in Dublin, but gardaí are satisfied he was not involved in the murder.
He told gardaí he did not know his motorcycle was to be used in the shooting, but he couldn't tell them who asked him for the vehicle. "I am afraid. I cannot say who it was," he said.
Murphy (26), of Knockmore Grove, Tallaght, pleaded guilty to making a false report to gardaí on February 2nd, 2004, that his motorcycle was stolen from outside his home.
Det Insp Gabriel O'Gara told Bernard Condron, prosecuting, that witnesses near the murder scene contacted gardaí after seeing a rider trying to kick-start a motorcycle while it was swaying from side to side, before the driver eventually fell off the vehicle.
Det Insp O'Gara said a small handgun then fell out of the driver's jacket and this proved to be the murder weapon.
A small piece of an indicator lens was also recovered at the scene and Garda forensic experts matched it to Murphy's motorcycle, which was recovered on February 2nd when workers found it at the rear of a Clanbrassil Street address.
Det Insp O'Gara said Murphy came to Tallaght Garda station on February 2nd and reported his motorcycle stolen. He was reluctant to give his telephone number but eventually did so.
He was arrested on February 24th in relation to the murder investigation and admitted he had made his bike available to someone he was afraid to name, but denied knowing it was to be used in the murder.
Det Insp O'Gara agreed with Isobel Kennedy SC, defending, that gardaí were satisfied Murphy was not involved in the murder nor was he at the scene, and that he was not involved with any criminal group or faction.
He agreed also with Ms Kennedy that Murphy was directed by the person he was too "terrified" to name to report his motorcycle as stolen. "He portrayed genuine fear when interviewed," Det Insp O'Gara said.
Judge White told Murphy he should be under no illusion as to the seriousness of the offence and that he must have had suspicions about the person who asked him for the use of his motorcycle.
"You are a coward and acted in a cowardly way and it's because of people like you that criminals can operate," the judge told him.
However, noting the "very fair evidence" of Insp O'Gara and other factors, the judge decided against a custodial sentence.