The trial of four men accused of murdering a Limerick nightclub bouncer in 2002 has opened before the Central Criminal Court.
Gary Campion of Moyross, John and Dessie Dundon, both from Ballinacurra Weston in Limerick city and Anthony Kelly from Kilrush in Co Clare are all pleading not guilty to the murder of Brian Fitzgerald on 29 November 2002.
Mr Fitzgerald from Brookhaven Walk in Corbally worked as a bouncer at Doc's Nightclub in Limerick.
Prosecution barrister Denis Vaughan Buckley told the jury of 12 men that one of the main prosecution witnesses would be James Martin Cahill, who has already been convicted of murdering Mr Fitzgerald.
Mr Buckley described the killing as a 'joint operation' and he gave an account of the evening of the shooting.
He said that both Mr Cahill and Mr Campion hid in bushes close to Mr Fitzgerald's house waiting for him to arrive home from work.
Mr Fitzgerald was shot several times including once in the back of the head as he lay face down on the ground, according to Mr Buckley.
Alice Fitzgerald, Mr Fitzgerald's widow, gave evidence this afternoon.
Mrs Fitzgerald recalled the night before the murder and how her husband had bathed their two children and stayed with them until they fell asleep.
She told the court that in the early hours of the morning of 29 November 2002 she heard her husband's car drive arrive home.
She said she then heard four loud shots and she tried to ring gardaí.
Mrs Fitzgerald said she then looked outside through a panel in her front door.
She told the court that she saw her husband on the driveway struggling with a man wearing a motorcycle helmet.
Mrs Fitzgerald described how her husband, Brian, looked back into the house at her. She said that when she went to the window of her house she saw another man wearing a white motorcycle helmet. She said that he looked straight at her through the window.
She said his eyebrows met and were jet-black in colour. She showed him the phone that she was holding and both men then walked out of the estate.
Mrs Fitzgerald said she went outside the house but could not see her husband.
She told the court that two men carrying guns then jumped out of a car and told her they were members of An Garda Síochána.
Asked by counsel for one of the accused Barry Mc Donnell if she was aware her husband owned a fire arm, she said he did not, but said that he did keep a knuckle duster with him for his protection.
The trial will resume at Cloverhill Courthouse in the morning.
