This article is from page 10 of the 2007-11-13 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 10 JPG
ONE of the four men accused of the murder of a Limerick bouncer has been found not guilty at the Central Criminal Court sitting at Cloverhill.
Mr Justice Peter Charleton directed the jury of 12 men to acquit John Dundon (27) of Ballinacurra Weston, Limerick of murdering Mr Brian Fit- zgerald in the early hours of Novem- ber 29, 2002, at Brookhaven Walk, Mill Road, Corbally, Limerick.
Mr Justice Charleton said he had come to his decision after a state- ment made by chief prosecution wit- ness James Martin Cahill, who is currently serving a life sentence for shooting Mr Fitzgerald, that “I’m getting like voices and | don’t want to convict someone in the wrong.”
Cahill said he did not remember Mr Dundon being present when Mr Fit- zgerald was pointed out at his place of work or a visit to the victim’s house before the murder.
He also said that while Mr Dun- don was present at a house where the murder was discussed he was not present for the conversation.
Mr Justice Charleton went on to tell the jury there was no case against John Dundon and he was requiring them to acquit him.
He warned them that this move did not affect the trials of the other three
defendants when they came to delib- erate their cases.
The jury also heard from Michael Flynn, a consultant engineer, who told Michael O’ Higgins SC, defend- ing Mr Kelly, the time it would take to travel certain routes mentioned during the trial.
He said that the journey from the Heath in Portlaoise, where Cahill said he had met with two men to plan the murder and arrange to pick up a gun and ammunition from Mr Kelly, to Mr Kelly’s house would take just over three hours.
A journey starting at 3.45pm from the Heath as suggested by both CCTV footage and phone records from the day of the meeting, would arrive at Mr Kelly’s house at 7pm.
A trip taken at the same time as an alternative account of the journey to Kilrush also given by Cahill would have taken | hour and 24 minutes each way.
However Mr Flynn agreed with Mr Sean Gillane BL, prosecuting, that he had undertaken all journeys at the statutory speed limit and journey times would be affected if this was not observed.
Mr Justice Charleton informed the jury that closing speeches would be- gin on Monday and urged them not to make up their minds before they had heard all arguments before them.