An eye witness has told the trial of a law professor accused of murdering an unarmed trespasser on his farm that she was "frozen to the spot" and "afraid" when she saw two intruders "determinedly" walking up a field in the direction of her employer.
French agricultural worker Alexandra Fernandes also said she had seen a rainbow minutes before the shooting and had told her co-workers to make a wish.
One of them had remarked: "I just want to stay alive for today", which "astonished" her.
In her direct evidence on Tuesday, Ms Fernandes told the prosecution that Diarmuid Phelan had fired a third gunshot from his revolver "at the same time" as the two unarmed trespassers on his farm were "turning to go".
Mr Phelan (56), with an address at Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, Dublin 24 has pleaded not guilty to murdering Keith Conlon (36) at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, on February 24th 2022.
Mr Phelan is a barrister, law lecturer and farmer who owns Hazelgrove Farm, formerly a golf course in Tallaght.
Ms Fernandes told the trial that on February 22nd, 2022 she was working with the accused and three other farmhands: Julien Roudaut, Pierre Godreu and Hannah Felgner.
Under cross-examination today, Ms Fernandes agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that February is a very busy time on a farm with lambing season.
She agreed with counsel that there was a problem on the farm with people breaking down fences and getting onto the land.
She also agreed she would have helped Mr Phelan and farmhand Julien rebuild the fences that were continually being broken down.
Morning of incident
Referring to the morning of February 22nd, Ms Fernandes said she had seen a deer on the farm and had communicated this over the walkie-talkie just after she had finished feeding the sheep.
She agreed Mr Phelan had got his rifle after this and had asked her where the deer was.
The witness further agreed that she had been working with a petrol strimmer that day when Julien had gone to find the accused's sheepdog Tal.
She said Mr Phelan, Julien and Tal had gone back down the field whilst she continued to work on the land. She agreed with the barrister that Mr Phelan had the rifle with him and she presumed the accused was "going for the deer".
Arguing
Ms Fernandes said she had walked down the field when she heard voices or arguing coming from the wooded area on the farm. She agreed she was curious to see what was happening.
She met Mr Phelan who had his dog on a lead and French worker Julien, who had all come out of the wooded area.
Mr Phelan asked her to take Tal and the accused made a phone call on Julien's phone.
Asked whether they had walked up the field and back up the slope to where a digger was, the witness said Mr Phelan went to the digger and she went in the direction of two of the other farmhands.
She agreed with Mr Bowman that she remembered two men coming out of the woods and walking up the field.
Counsel put it to the witness that she had said in her direct evidence on Tuesday that the two men had walked "decidedly". "Does that mean they look determined?" he asked. The witness said it did.
"And they knew where they wanted to go and who they wanted to get to?" asked counsel. She said the men were only looking at the accused.
She agreed that the men were arguing very loudly, and it had been directed at the accused.
She agreed with Mr Bowman that she had been looking down the field because she had seen a rainbow.
Wish to stay alive
Asked why the rainbow was relevant, Ms Fernandes said she had told the other farmhands to make a wish and Julien had said: "I just want to stay alive for today". The witness stated: "I said me too".
She told Mr Bowman she was “astonished with the answer of Julien".
She told the lawyer that she was afraid the two trespassers "would do something to Tal", who was still on the lead at the time.
Asked whether she had moved the dog, Ms Fernandes said she hadn't. "I wanted to move, but I couldn't," she replied.
"You were not able to move, were you frozen to the spot?" asked the counsel. The witness said she was.
Asked by Mr Bowman why this was, Ms Fernandes said she supposed she was afraid.
"Afraid of the two men coming?" asked counsel. "Of the situation, yes," replied the witness.
Asked why she had told the jury on Tuesday that she had looked at the first man's hand, the witness said she was afraid he was going to "take out a knife or something like this".
She said Mr Phelan was shouting "Go, Go" but the men continued to walk towards him.
She agreed she had heard a noise that sounded like a fire cracker or a banger, but the two men had continued to walk up the slope towards the accused.
Gunshots
Mr Bowman put it to the witness that she had told gardaí in her statement that the shots had all happened together quickly, that there was no time between them, "like two or three panicked shots".
She agreed that everything had happened quickly.
Counsel also put it to Ms Fernandes that she had told the jury in her direct evidence that when she heard the third shot fired she had used the expression "commencer un demi-tour" or "to start to turn around" in reference to the first man, and it was at this stage she could see the man's face.
"Yes I started to see their face and saw them going down," she replied.
She said she had seen two bloodstains on the first man's head.
She agreed she had told the jury that the first man had made a step forward, possibly two steps and had stiffened before he fell.
She also agreed that Mr Phelan had "carefully" gone towards the man on the ground to check on him and see whether he was alright. She said he "immediately" called out for an ambulance.
She said Julien had told her not to stay where she was because it was dangerous.
In re-examination, the witness told John Byrne SC, prosecuting, that she had not seen the first man reach for his pockets or put his hands into his pockets at any stage.
First responder evidence
Paramedic Georgina Flynn said she was dispatched to Kiltalown Lane just before 1.15pm on the afternoon of February 22nd to treat a man with a gunshot wound. She said notes had appeared on the ambulance screen en route to the scene that Mr Conlon was conscious and breathing.
She said the paramedics had "to run a bit" to get to Mr Conlon as he was lying on his back "quite a bit down the field". She said he was breathing and had a pulse.
Mr Conlon was wearing a lot of clothes which paramedics had to cut off to put defibrillator pads on his chest. She said the patient wasn't able to answer any questions.
She said his eyes were rolling, and he was frothing at the mouth. She agreed with the prosecutor that she had said in her statement to gardaí that it was pink froth.
The witness said she swept his body to see whether there were other injuries but there didn't seem to be any. Mr Conlon was put on a board and brought by ambulance to Tallaght Hospital.
Ms Flynn said she checked the area to make sure nothing was left behind and noticed white powder where the patient's head had been.
A garda told her it was hemostatic powder which was used on Mr Conlon to try to stop bleeding.
Paramedic Hannah Skinner said she and the previous witness were brought to the bunker area of the farm. When they arrived, a garda was administering First Aid to Mr Conlon and putting pressure to the wound on his head.
Ms Skinner said the paramedics took over from gardai but found their ability to administer First Aid was limited as the patient was in a critical condition.
Paramedic Mark Foley recalled Mr Conlon being laid at the bottom of an embankment.
In a statement read into evidence, a consultant from Tallaght Hospital said Mr Conlon met the criteria for brain stem death testing, which examines all the functions of the brain stem. She confirmed brain death at 15.50 hours on February 24th, 2022.
Another consultant from Tallaght Hospital said the deceased had severe irreversible brain injury.
Opening the prosecution’s case last week, Roisin Lacey SC said the jury will hear evidence that on the day in question three men including Mr Conlon had trespassed on a wooded area of Mr Phelan's land while hunting foxes or badgers.
Ms Lacey said that Mr Phelan told gardaí he became concerned about a dog running loose on his land towards his sheep and shot it with his Winchester rifle, whereupon he said three men immediately "exploded" from the wooded area and began threatening him.
The 12 jurors were also told by the State that Mr Phelan said he was shaking with fear and "scrambled" up a bank to get away but when the deceased man, Keith Conlon, and a second man kept coming, he believed they were "coming to fulfil the threats they had made".
As they got closer, Mr Phelan said he reached for his Smith & Wesson revolver in his pocket and fired in the air over their heads but was "stunned when one man went down", the court has heard.
In her opening address, Ms Lacey said she expects the defence case to be that the accused was entitled to discharge the firearm in a legitimate act of self-defence.
They will say that it was not done with the intention of causing the bullet to penetrate Mr Conlon's body and that the penetration was an accidental, unintended result, she stated.
Mr Conlon, from Kiltalown Park in Tallaght, was seriously injured in the shooting incident on February 22nd and died at Tallaght University Hospital two days later.
The State's case, Ms Lacey highlighted, is that when the third shot was fired, the gun was pointed in the direction of the deceased who was shot in the back of the head when he had turned away to leave.
"In those circumstances we say the accused intended to kill or cause serious injury," counsel said.
The trial continues on Thursday before Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford and a jury of nine men and three women.
