A LIMERICK man is due to appear before the Special Criminal Court today charged with the murder of Shane Geoghegan four years ago.
The 30-year-old is the second person to be charged with the murder of the Garryowen rugby player, who was shot dead in a case of mistaken identity in November 2008.
Last February, Barry Doyle (26) from Portland Row, Dublin, was jailed for life for the murder of the 28-year-old, who was shot five times at Kilteragh, Dooradoyle, Limerick, in the early hours of November 9th, 2008.
During the trial, the court was told Mr Geoghegan was walking home from a friend’s house when he was shot by Barry Doyle.
He pleaded with Doyle to stop and ran into the back garden of a neighbour’s house but Doyle followed him and shot him in the head.
The intended target of the shooting, John McNamara, lived four doors down from Mr Geoghegan in the same estate.
During the trial one of the prosecution’s key witnesses, April Collins, named a man she said had instructed Doyle to kill Mr McNamara.
After the trial, Garda Chief Supt John Scanlan said it was “a good result for the decent people of Limerick” but stressed investigations into the murder would continue due to other parties being implicated during the court proceedings.
“This isn’t a moment of triumph, this is an investigation which will continue,” he said.
It is understood the Director of Public Prosecutions directed earlier this week that a second man could be charged with Mr Geoghegan’s murder.
The DPP has directed that he should be charged before the Special Criminal Court and not at a District Court.
Limerick gardaí investigating Mr Geoghegan’s murder will travel to the Special Criminal Court in Dublin today to charge the man with the murder.
Members of Mr Geoghegan’s family have been notified about today’s court appearance.
When Doyle was convicted last February the Geoghegan family did not make a victim impact statement.
Senior prosecuting counsel Tom O’Connell said the Geoghegan family did not want to make a statement as they felt the crime spoke for itself.
Mr Geoghegan was captain of his rugby team at Garryowen.
When attacked in November 2008 he suffered five gunshot injuries. A postmortem showed he died from gunshot injuries to his head and trunk.