The trial of four men accused of the murder of Detective Garda Jerry McCabe in 1996 opened in the Special Criminal Court this morning. The four men have pleaded not guilty to the murder. They have also pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Detective Garda Ben O'Sullivan at Adare, County Limerick on the same day and to five other charges relating to the illegal possession of firearms and ammunition and conspiracy to commit a robbery.
Garda McCabe, a fifty-two-year-old father of five, was shot dead and died at the scene during an attempted robbery of a post office cash delivery van at Adare in County Limerick. Another detective, Garda Ben O'Sullivan was seriously injured.
The four murder accused, are Pearse McCauley from Strabane County Tyrone and three County Limerick men: Jeremiah Sheehy from Rathkeale, and Michael O'Neill and Kevin Walsh from Patrickswell. The four are charged with capital murder, which carries a mandatory 40 year sentence on conviction.
A fifth man, John Quinn from Patrickswell has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to rob and unlawful possession of ammunition. The Special Criminal Court refused his application for a separate trial.
Detective Garda Jerry McCabe was shot three times as he sat in the passenger seat of his Garda escort car in Adare on June 7th 1996. He died almost instantly. His colleague Detective Garda O'Sullivan was seriously injured in the gunfire. Prosecuting Edward Comyn said in his opening speech today that up to 14 shots from a Kalashikov weapon were fired directly and rapidly into the Garda car.
The two Gardaí had been assigned to escort a post office cash delivery van which left Limerick at half past six in the morning. It was carrying over eighty thousand pounds and Adare was the first stop. Both men were armed and the prosecution said that anyone who knew of this van could expect an armed garda escort. But Detective Garda McCabe and O'Sullivan never drew their weapons, the State contends they were never able to do so.
When the van and its escort arrived in Adare, two men, wearing Balaclavas jumped from a pajero jeep, driven by two other masked men and fired into the Garda car. They jeep had driven into the back of the Garda Car. A second vehicle, a silver saloon car was used for the getaway. The murder weapon has not been discovered and there is no fingerprint evidence.
The State contend that the attack on the Garda car was part of a well planned operation to rob the post office van. The gang drew abreast of the car and without warning opened fire in such a way that could only result in death or serious injury.
The prosecution will call evidence to show that the gang spent the night before the raid at a house in Patrickswell, leaving at first light. The book of evidence in the case runs to over 1,400 pages and there are over three hundred and sixty witnesses. It is unlikley that the court will hear evidence from any of the witnesses until tomorrow at the earliest and it is predicted the trial could last up to three months.
The trial resumes tomorrow.
