The bullets which killed the journalist Veronica Guerin were similar to ones found in an arms cache at a Dublin cemetery, the Special Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Purpose-made pouches used to hold a machine pistol and silencer, which were also part of the cemetery cache, were "very, very similar" to machine pistol and silencer pouches found in a separate search of a warehouse containing almost 48kg of cannabis resin.
The State was continuing its opening evidence in the trial of Mr Brian Meehan (34), of no fixed abode, and formerly of Clifton Court, Dublin, and Stanaway Road, Crumlin, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Guerin (36) at the Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin, on June 26th, 1996.
The three judges sitting in the non-jury court heard that Ms Guerin was hit by six bullets fired from the same .357 Magnum revolver.
In addition to the murder charge, Mr Meehan denies 16 other charges alleging that he unlawfully imported cannabis resin into the State on various dates between July 1st, 1994, and October 6th, 1996; that he unlawfully possessed cannabis resin for the purpose of sale or supply on the same dates; and that on or about October 3rd, 1996, at Unit 1B, Greenmount Industrial Estate, Harold's Cross, Dublin, he had cannabis resin for sale or supply.
He has also pleaded not guilty to having a Sten sub-machinegun, silencer barrel, two magazines, a 9mm Agram machine pistol, five Walther semi-automatic pistols, four magazines and 1,057 rounds of assorted ammunition with intent to endanger life at Oldcourt Road, Tallaght, Dublin, between November 10th, 1995, and October 3rd, 1996.
Det Sgt Patrick Ennis, a ballistics officer with the Garda Technical Bureau, said he went to the scene of the shooting at 2.15 p.m. on June 26th, 1996, and searched the car in which Ms Geurin lay. "In front of the driver's seat and between the feet of the late Veronica Guerin I saw and took possession of a discharged lead bullet", he said. He removed three bullets and one bullet fragment from Ms Guerin's car and later took possession of two other bullets after the post-mortem examination.
The witness had noted a number of bullet holes and strikes to the car, including a dent caused by a bullet exiting the left passenger door. The bullets had been so deflected that some of them were damaged, he said. He examined their trajectory and believed that the shots entered through the driver's door window at an angle of about 40 to 45 degrees from the horizontal.
Det Sgt Ennis also told the court that he was at the scene of a Garda search of a warehouse in the Greenmount Industrial Estate on October 6th, 1996. Two hold-alls containing slabs of cannabis resin were found just inside the door and similar bars of cannabis were on the floor, close to the side wall.
Det Sgt Ennis said that on October 7th, the day following the cannabis discovery, he returned to the warehouse and continued searching. In a cardboard box containing plastic bags and what looked like rubbish, he found a pouch made from camouflage material. He believed that the pouch had been made to hold an Agram 2000 machine pistol.
He also found a second pouch designed to hold a silencer for the same weapon. When he returned to the Garda Technical Bureau that same day he was handed items from an arms cache found by gardai at a grave in Oldcourt Road cemetery, Tallaght, including five Walther 9mm semi-automatic pistols with silencers, a Sten Mark II sub-machinegun with silencer and a 9mm Agram machine pistol with silencer. In addition, there were over 500 rounds of assorted ammunition, and there were spare magazines.
The witness said that he compared bullets from the arms find in the cemetery with the discharged bullets found in Ms Guerin's car and those removed from her body. The bullets which had been fired at the journalist were .38 or .357 calibre bullets of a semi-wadcutter type. They could have been fired either from a .38 special calibre firearm or a .357 Magnum calibre firearm, and this was "most likely" a handgun. "In my opinion, it was a revolver", Det Sgt Ennis said.
Among the cemetery cache was a standard plastic ammunition container with 38 rounds of .357 Magnum calibre ammunition. Of the 38, 34 were "reloaded semi-wadcutter lead bullets" similar to those fired at Ms Guerin. A further six rounds were found in a plastic bag at the cemetery.
Det Sgt Ennis explained that wadcutter bullets were used in target shooting and left a "regular" hole, eliminating any dispute about where they struck; semi-wadcutter bullets had a semi-conical tip which was flat at the top and had a use beyond target practice.
The bullets had also been reloaded, or "homecast", and were not factory-cast. Such improvised reloading could occur where ammunition was scarce or where criminals had a reduced supply of ammunition.
Det Sgt Ennis said that he also carried out an examination of the lubricating grooves on the bullets and found that all were consistent with having been discharged from the same firearm. Due to the damage caused to the bullets from the deflections after they were fired, positive identification was not possible. "But they are consistent with having been fired from the same firearm."
The trial resumes next Thursday at the Special Criminal Court.