The Special Criminal Court has granted legal aid to a Dublin man accused of murdering journalist Veronica Guerin. The court was told Mr Brian Meehan has no money to pay for his defence after the Criminal Assets Bureau seized an apartment on Dublin's quays and a house in Fairview, as well as freezing a substantial bank account in Austria.
Mr Meehan (34), of no fixed abode and formerly of Clifton Court and Stanaway Road, Crumlin, was extradited from Holland last September. During the Dutch legal proceedings it was claimed that Mr Meehan was the driver of a motorbike whose pillion passenger shot Ms Guerin (36) six times as she sat in her car on the Naas Road in June, 1996.
He faces 18 charges including the murder, possession of firearms and ammunition, and possession of cannabis.
Yesterday, Mr Meehan's counsel, Mr Michael O'Higgins, said a tax consultant had advised that the seized property would not be sufficient to meet legal fees for the trial.
State counsel Mr Peter Charleton SC said that while the Director of Public Prosecutions had no role in the application for legal aid, he would assist the court in outlining the circumstances of the accused.
He said that Meehan's assets in Ireland had been sold and the money had gone to the Revenue Commissioners. He told the court that it was a convention between governments that each state would keep money suspected of being the proceeds of crime from another state. "The public interest is that persons engaged in crime should not reap the benefit of that crime," he added.
Mr Justice Morris said the court felt this was an appropriate case for legal aid and also certified that Mr Meehan should have two senior counsel and one junior counsel for his trial.
The trial is expected to last between four and six weeks. Mr Meehan was remanded in custody for trial on June 2nd.