Guerin's last call was to Garda, court hears

Journalist Veronica Guerin's last phone call before she was shot dead was to a Garda Chief Superintendent's mobile phone message…

Journalist Veronica Guerin's last phone call before she was shot dead was to a Garda Chief Superintendent's mobile phone message playback service, the Special Criminal Court heard today.

The court was told that the eighteen seconds call was made at 12.54 p.m. on June 26th, 1996 when the

Sunday Independent

crime reporter was on the Naas Road returning from Naas District Court where she had been fined for road traffic offences.

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Detective Garda Pat Bane of Lucan said he had known Ms Guerin since May, 1994 and was familiar with her voice.

He said on June 27th, the day after the journalists' murder, he listened to a tape recording of a message playback service for a mobile phone number.

Detective Garda Bane said he recognised the voice as that of the late Ms Guerin. ``She said: `I did very well. Fined a maximum of 150 quid, alt -' and there was a crack and that was the end of the message,'' he said.

Mr Michael O' Higgins SC, defence counsel for murder accused John Gilligan, objected when the prosecution said they would play a tape recording of Ms Guerin's message.

He said the defence were accepting that an interrupted message was received at 12.54 p.m. on June 26th,1996 and that the court was entitled to draw inferences that that was the time when Ms Guerin was attacked.

After a short adjournment, Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan, presiding, said the court had decided not to listen to the tape as nothing was to be gained following the defence admission.

Detective Garda Patrick Kelly from the telecommunications section at Garda Headquarters said that the relevant mobile phone number was issued to a member of the Special Detective Unit in 1988.

Earlier Mr Jim Faughnan, an Eircell official, said that the records showed that the last phone call made by Ms Guerin's mobile phone was at 12.54 p.m. on June 26th, 1996 and the call lasted 18 seconds.

He agreed with prosecuting counsel Mr Tom O'Connell SC that the number called by Ms Guerin was a mobile phone number registered to a Chief Superintendent in the Crime Section of the Garda Siochana.

Mr Faughnan said that the records also showed that there was gap in calls made by Ms Guerin's phone between 10.05 a.m. and 12.36 p.m. on June 26th, 1996.

It was the twenty eighth day of the trial of John Gilligan (48), with addresses at Corduff Avenue, Blanchardstown, Dublin; Jessbrook Equestrian Centre, Mucklon, Enfield, Co Kildare; and HM Prison Belmarsh, London, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Sunday Independent crime reporter Veronica Guerin (37) at Naas Road, Clondalkin, Dublin on June 26th, 1996.

Gilligan also denies fifteen other counts alleging the importation of cannabis and firearms and ammunition offences.

The prosecution has claimed that Gilligan was ``in control and command'' of a criminal gang that imported and distributed large amounts of cannabis and that he organised the murder of Ms Guerin. The trial is continuing.