Key witness was attacked by victim's friends

A key State witness in the trial of 19-year-old Limerick man Mr Liam Keane (left) was assaulted last Friday on his way to court by friends of Mr Eric Leamy, the man Mr Keane was accused of killing.

It was after the same witness, Mr Roy Behan, denied he had identified Mr Keane as Eric Leamy's killer that Mr Keane was told by the court he was free to go.

Last Friday Mr Behan failed to appear in the Central Criminal Court, Dublin. He was due to give evidence against Keane.

The court was told, in the absence of the jury, that Mr Behan had failed to appear in the court after he had been assaulted at a Limerick train station as he was beginning his trip to Dublin.

The Irish Times has established that Mr Behan, who was a friend of Mr Leamy and even helped to carry his coffin at his funeral, was struck a number of times by a small group who were also friends of the dead man.

It is understood the group of Mr Leamy's associates was unhappy at the way the trial was unfolding in Dublin and went to the station to warn Mr Behan to co-operate fully with the court.

"It seems to have happened out of frustration at the general way things were going. It appears he was struck a number of times," said one source.

The attack on Mr Behan came after five witnesses who were due to give evidence against Mr Keane last week all either refused to testify, or changed their evidence.

Mr Justice Carney said three of the witnesses were suffering from "collective amnesia".

Mr Behan finally appeared before the court on Monday. He denied making a statement identifying Mr Keane as the man who stabbed Mr Leamy.

The DPP then directed that a nolle prosequi be entered. Mr Keane was told he could leave the court a free man with his "constitutional presumption of innocence intact".

Mr Behan denied telling gardaí, in a signed statement of August 28th, 2001, that he witnessed Mr Keane sticking a knife into Mr Leamy's side.

In his statement, he alleged there had been an argument over a dog and that the accused first hit the deceased with a pallet with a nail before taking out a knife.

"I can't remember making no statement," Mr Behan repeatedly said when it was put to him that what he told gardaí was the truth.

Meanwhile, the Garda Representative Association (GRA) has warned that Garda resources in Limerick are now near breaking point. Garda Paul Brown, a Limerick member of the GRA, said the public and "ordinary policing needs" were being neglected.

"Limerick stands unique in the sense that there are a number of people and a number of families and related people involved here.

"What is happening here is that the vast majority of Garda resources are being put into the investigations of these murders that take place and also vast resources are being put into attempting to prevent these issues ever taking place.

"We find ourselves in a situation here whereby our members cannot even partake in annual leave because, the fact of the matter is, they can't walk away from very serious investigations," he added.

"It is putting huge pressures on them. It is putting huge pressures on the policing needs of the rest of the community."

The Garda Emergency Response Unit was drafted in to patrol the streets of Limerick city earlier this year when the Ryan brothers were allegedly abducted and the drug dealer Kieran Keane shot dead.

However, the serious crime situation which has subsequently emerged in Finglas, Dublin, has occupied the ERU in recent weeks.