A DUBLIN man has told the Central Criminal Court that he went into shock after being shot twice on opening his front door to a gunman on April 29th, 2006.
James Egan (24) was giving evidence in the trial of Michael Brennan, who is charged with attempting to murder him at Egan’s council flat in Cromcastle Court, Kilmore Road, Coolock in Dublin.
Mr Brennan (20), Cromcastle Drive, has pleaded not guilty to the charge and denies possession of a sawn-off shotgun and shotgun cartridges with intent to endanger life.
In the first trial to take place in the new Criminal Courts of Justice on Parkgate Street in Dublin, Mr Egan said he was smoking heroin in his bedroom when there was a knock on the front door at about 11.20pm.
He told Paddy McCarthy SC, prosecuting, that after asking twice who was there, he recognised the voice of (now deceased) Wesley Byrne. He had been expecting Mr Byrne, who was from nearby Belcamp Crescent, Darndale, where Mr Egan previously lived with his family.
“I opened the door and got shot in the stomach and the leg,” he said. There was bad lighting and he saw only a small shadow that he thought was Mr Byrne. “I didn’t see the gun. All I seen was a shadow and a big, blue flash. I fell down against the skirting board.”
Mr Egan said he went blank and did not feel any pain due to shock. A surgeon at Beaumont Hospital later removed two bullets and a pellet from him.
He told the prosecution that as far as he knew, he was shot because he owed Mr Brennan €200 for drugs. “It’s the only reason I can think of anyway.” He agreed with Paul McDermott SC, defending, that Mr Brennan had not mentioned the €200 when they had met earlier that evening. He did not feel under pressure and nobody was hassling him about it.