THE JURY in the trial of a Dublin man who was the alleged getaway driver for a gunman in a fatal shooting has heard that the accused’s phone was used near the scene minutes before the killing.
Det Garda Pat Conlon told the Central Criminal Court that signals from a mobile phone mast on the north side of Dublin show text messages were sent and received by the accused’s phone in the vicinity of the shooting, on September 13th, 2008.
Liam Bolger (23), of Homelawn Gardens, Tallaght, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Christopher Barry (25). Mr Barry was shot as he sat in Byrne’s Bookmakers on Killester Avenue in Donnycarney. A number of witnesses saw a gunman wearing a motorbike helmet enter the bookies at about 3pm and open fire. The deceased was hit nine times and died at the scene.
Witnesses also told the court how they saw the gunman get on a motorbike that was parked outside the shop, and drive down the footpath and around the corner. A man wearing a motorcycle helmet was also seen pouring petrol over a motorbike and setting it on fire on La Vista Avenue, a cul de sac close to Killester Avenue.
Counsel for the prosecution, Paddy McCarthy, has told the jury of six men and six women it is his case that Mr Bolger was the getaway driver, and that the case is one of joint enterprise.
One of the main witnesses, Patrick Drew, saw a man sitting in white van with the engine running, around the corner from Killester Avenue. He told the jury that he saw a man wearing a motorbike helmet sprint down the lane and jump in the van which took off “pretty fast”. He phoned in the van’s registration to gardaí, who traced it to an address at Homelawn Gardens in Tallaght.
Yesterday, Det Garda Conlon told the court that signals from the mobile phone mast at the GAA grounds in Parnell Park show the accused’s phone was used in the area between 2.20 and 2.55 on the afternoon of the killing. He said the mast recorded 12 contacts made by Mr Bolger’s phone in that time, including calls and text messages to his mother, Jean Bolger, and his two sisters.
One of his sisters texted Mr Bolger’s phone after she had received a call, saying: “You okay Liam? You sound a bit odd.” The Parnell Park mast recorded a number of other texts up to 2.55pm. The next recorded use of the mobile was at 3.36pm when a call was made from Mr Bolger’s phone to his mother’s, recorded by the mast on Thomas Street.
The court also heard evidence from Eamonn O’Garvey, an engineer with Meteor. Mr O’Garvey said that after examining traffic on the mobile phone attributed to Liam Bolger, he found it had been using the mast at Parnell Park on September 13th, 2008.
The trial continues.