A man who claims to have been in the home of a young Albanian woman when she was murdered by another man has admitted a string of crimes, including stealing a gun.
Mr Bashkim Osaj from Kosovo is the chief prosecution witness in the murder trial at the Central Criminal Court in Sligo. He told the court yesterday he had been deported from Germany because of his crimes and that he had committed a number of robberies here.
Early in the cross-examination by Mr Peter Finlay SC, defending, Mr Osaj said he needed to go outside "for my personal security". Mr Justice Carney told him that this did not arise and ordered him to answer the questions. At the end of the sitting, Mr Justice Carney warned him not to discuss the case with anyone. "If my instructions are disobeyed I have unlimited powers of fines and imprisonment," he said.
Mr Osaj is giving evidence at the trial of Mr Eduart (also known as Ardi) Kulici (24), from Albania, living at Maltings Apartments, Bonham Street, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Lindita Kukaj. She was strangled at her flat on Wolfe Tone Street, Sligo, on February 22nd, 2003.
Mr Osaj has told the court that Mr Kulici strangled Ms Kukaj in her bedroom as he slept in the sitting room of her flat after the three of them attended a night club in the town. He managed to raise the alarm when they called to a petrol station in Carrick-on-Shannon as they returned to Dublin after the murder.
Mr Osaj admitted to Mr Finlay that he used false papers to get into Ireland after having been deported. In July this year, he stole a shotgun from a farmhouse in Co Tipperary.
He paid a man €500 for telling him where he would find the gun and he had then sawn off the barrels. He had also got someone in Dublin to get him 50 bullets.
Mr Osaj said he always used gloves when committing crimes. He told gardaí that he gambled and that he owed €9,000.
Mr Osaj, a bricklayer, said he had been convicted of robbery in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court in July 2002. He had been charged with false imprisonment in connection with this incident when an employee of the City West Hotel was tied up. In March, gardaí were called to his home in Ballymun after being called by his wife during a serious dispute.
He said he had tried to visit Mr Kulici in Cloverhill prison earlier this year but "he refused my visit".
Asked whether he travelled to places like Tallaght, Cashel and Enniscorthy to steal to subsidise his gambling, Mr Osaj said: "Yes. I look for money. I like to make money."
He had known Mr Kulici for only five or six weeks before the murder but he agreed to drive him to Sligo to see Ms Kukaj. He did not see Mr Kulici taking a silver knife or crowbar along with him in the car. When they met Ms Kukaj, she was relaxed and happy to talk to Mr Kulici about her mother and sister back in Albania. She was happy until just before they went to Toff's night club at about 1 a.m.
The trial continues today.