by Andrew Carey at the Special Criminal Court
A LIMERICK man serving a life sentence for murder claimed he had a mobile phone with him when he appeared as a witness in the high security Special Criminal Court in Dublin this Wednesday.
Anthony ‘Noddy’ McCarthy was giving evidence in the trial of Wayne Dundon (36), of Lenihan Avenue, Prospect and Nathan Killeen (24) of Hyde Road, Prospect who have pleaded not guilty to the murder of 35-year-old Roy Collins at the Roxboro Road Shopping Centre on April 9, 2009.
McCarthy (32) of Fairgreen, Garryowen is a first cousin of Wayne Dundon and is serving a life sentence for the murder of Kieran Keane in Limerick in January 2003.
He claimed that he had the mobile phone with him in court after telling defence counsel Remy Farrell SC that he didn’t know of any prisoner in jail around the time of the murder who didn’t have a mobile phone while in custody.
He added that he made up to seven calls to his brother Christopher on a mobile phone he had.
He denied being “deliberately obtuse” or getting nervous in the witness box during questioning.
As Mr Farrell continued his questioning, Wayne Dundon’s brother Ger arrived in the public gallery with his left arm covered in an orthopaedic plaster cast.
Asked if he was afraid of being caught with the phone or if he ever feared it would ring while he was in the Governor’s office, McCarthy stood up, saying “here look at this”, showing what appeared to be the outline of a mobile phone in his pocket.
“I’ve my phone with me here in court, but I have it on silent so it doesn’t buzz”, he claimed.
When Mr Farrell asked if he spoke with the Governor of the prison that morning, McCarthy said “I don’t recall but I may have.”
“Did you bring your phone with you?” asked Mr Farrell.
“If you were visiting the Governor, you just left your phone on the landing”, explained McCarthy adding again that “I often brought it with me to his office”.
When McCarthy left the stand he was confronted by prison officers who removed a television remote control unit from his pocket.
McCarthy previously told the trial that he claims he heard Wayne Dundon on the phone in a cell in Wheatfield Prison order James Dillon to “go down and do Roy Collins”.
The prosecution case closed this Wednesday and trial is expected to move into defence evidence and closing speeches over the remainder of the week later after the three judges heard evidence from forensic scientist Mr Michael Burlington that Nathan Killeen’s DNA was found on two hoodies and other items seized from a house on Crecora Avenue in the immediate aftermath of the murder.
