A 20-year-old Limerick man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with the murder of a young carpenter in 2009.
Kenneth Collopy of Kilonan, Ballysimon, denies murdering Daniel Fitzgerald at Cloughnadromin, Ballysimon, on 8 December 2009.
At the opening of the trial, prosecuting counsel Mary Ellen Ring told the jury that Mr Collopy was arrested at his family home 80 minutes after Daniel Fitzgerald was shot dead outside his uncle's home.
Ms Ring said the 25-year-old victim had been working with his uncle Paul Fitzgerald and was visiting his home on 8 December 2009.
Paul Fitzgerald told the court a car had turned into their yard just as his nephew was leaving their home.
They were living in a mobile home at the rear of their cottage while it was being renovated.
Paul Fitzgerald said he heard a loud bang followed by several more and glass was shattered in their home. He was feeding his three-month-old baby son at the time and two other daughters were in the mobile home.
He said his wife and children were screaming and he lay over his baby son to protect him.
When the banging stopped, he heard a car screeching out of the yard and went outside to find his nephew lying in a pool of blood.
Paul Fitzgerald said his nephew was breathing funny and was not responding.
He put pillows under his head and covered him with a quilt, but could get no response from him while waiting for the ambulance.
In cross-examination, Paul Fitzgerald agreed that it was 'pure chance' that his nephew left at the same time the car was pulling into the yard and that he could have left at any time.
Dolores Fitzgerald said she was in the mobile home with three of her daughters and her baby son when she heard the bangs. Her husband told her to get down on the ground. She agreed with defence counsel Brendan Grehan that the yard was very dark.
His daughter told the court she had left the mobile home 'right before' her cousin to go to an adjoining mobile home. She saw a car pulling into the yard and then heard bangs.
The jury heard that Daniel Fitzgerald was pronounced dead ten minutes after he arrived in hospital.
A post mortem showed a catastrophic wound to his head. A bullet had passed right through his skull and another had entered his thigh causing massive blood loss.
Mr Collopy was arrested at 10.50pm at his family home, which was also in Ballysimon, not far from the Fitzgerald home.
A search of the 'semi-rural' area was carried out immediately and burnt clothing was found close to the Collopy home.
A green Toyota Corolla was also found along with a key and a Glock semi-automatic hand gun close to Kenneth Collopy's home.
The front seat of the car was reclined and a number of spent casings were found on the car.
Bullets were found in the caravan the Fitzgeralds were living in while their house was being renovated. Some were found beside the TV and one at the base of a Christmas tree.
Gardaí also recovered CCTV footage from the Limerick area on the night and the jury was told it will see that footage in relation to the movements of the green Toyota.
The trial is expected to last two weeks.
