Footage of shop manager’s shooting played at ‘Freddie’ Thompson trial

Footage of the moment a shoe shop manager was shot dead in his Dublin store has been played during the non-jury murder trial of Frederick “Freddie” Thompson.

The 37-year-old, of Loreto Road, Maryland in Dublin, has pleded not guilty at the Special Criminal Court to the murder of David Douglas on July 1st, 2016, on Bridgefoot Street in Dublin.

Mr Douglas (55) was shot dead shortly after 4pm, as he ate a curry in Shoestown. A semi-automatic pistol with its serial number removed was found next to his head.

The prosecution does not argue that Mr Thompson carried out the physical act of killing, but that he was in spotter cars used in the shooting. The three judges heard on Tuesday that his DNA was found in two of the cars.

The judges then began hearing a legal issue on the admissibility of evidence that the prosecution plans to adduce.

They viewed CCTV footage of the movements of those vehicles, two other cars that the State has described as the “ultimate murder vehicle” and the “ultimate getaway car”, along with the movements of their occupants.

On Wednesday, Garda Ciarán Byrne explained to Seán Gillane SC, prosecuting, that footage showed Mr Douglas moving to the entrance to the shop at 4.11pm on the day he was killed.

“We can see a dark figure at the entrance,” said Mr Gillane.

“Mr Douglas moves to the entrance to the shop,” noted Garda Byrne. “A person approaches, he’s shot. At that point Mr Douglas’s daughter comes to his assistance.”

He then showed footage from a nearby apartment block.

"A person runs from the Bridgefoot Street area in the Oliver Bond Street direction," he explained.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding with Judge Flannan Brennan and Judge Gerard Griffin.

The court also viewed footage of Mr Thompson at his family’s stall on nearby Meath Street, captured around the same time.

Mr Gillane had said in his opening speech that the accused would be seen getting out of a Ford Fiesta on Meath Street and talking to a female running a stall. He said that the accused would then be seen breaking up a mobile phone and handing her the parts.

Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, told the court that he was not challenging the identification of his client at this point.

While showing this footage yesterday, Garda Byrne noted simply that a male had exited the driver’s side of the parked Fiesta before crossing the road to the stall, where there was a female.

However, Mr O’Higgins later cross-examined Garda Nathan McKenna about the footage, which commenced with a bearded man in a baseball cap parking the Fiesta.

He asked if this was the Thompson family stall.

“I believe so,” he replied, confirming that it was in the family for 57 years.

He also agreed that he had identified the man in the footage as Mr Thompson, while a colleague had identified the female.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Tony Hunt, presiding with Judge Flannan Brennan and Judge Gerard Griffin.