An eyewitness has told the Detective Garda Colm Horkan murder trial that he heard the “shooter” say: “If I didn't kill him, he would have killed me.”
The Central Criminal Court also heard on Thursday that the accused man, Stephen Silver, told gardai that the detective's gun “kept going off” as they grappled over it.
Gda Enda Rowley told prosecution counsel Michael Delaney SC that when he arrived at the scene in Castlerea he saw the body of Gda Horkan lying on the ground at the junction of Main St and Patrick St while Gda Aidan Fallon was holding the arm of Mr Silver, who was in handcuffs. Gda Rowley, Gda Fallon and a third garda put Mr Silver into a patrol car and brought him to Castlerea garda station.
On the way, Gda Rowley noted that Mr Silver said: “This has been a serious bad night. I didn’t know he was a guard. He was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger jacket. I was wearing a luminous jacket. I was going for a pizza. He knew James [Coyne, Mr Silver’s friend] but he didn’t know me. I thought this sort of thing only happened in America. What is going on in Castlerea?”
Gda Rowley described Mr Silver as agitated and “somewhat non-compliant”. At the station Gda Rowley cautioned Mr Silver and asked if he was the one who shot Det Gda Horkan. He noted his response as: “No, well yes. We were grappling over it and it went off. It kept going off.”
Gda Rowley asked, “did you pull the trigger?”
“Yes,” Mr Silver responded.
“How many times?” the garda asked.
Mr Silver replied: “It kept going off, the gun. My ears are ringing, I never used a gun. I can’t hear anything. Can you get me a tea? I’m in shock.”
Pronounced dead
Gda Rowley returned to the scene of the shooting and was present when a doctor pronounced Gda Horkan dead at 3.07am.
Stephen Silver (46), a motorbike mechanic from Aughavard, Foxford, Co Mayo has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Det Gda Horkan on June 17th, 2020 at Castlerea, Co Roscommon. He is charged that he committed the murder knowing or being reckless as to whether Det Gda Horkan was a member of An Garda Síochána acting in accordance with his duty. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Marcus Silvera told prosecution counsel James Dwyer SC that he is from Brazil but now lives on Main St, Castlerea. On June 17th, 2020, shortly before midnight, he heard what he knew to be a shooting. “I am used to shooting in Brazil so I know what a shot is,” he said.
He went to his window and as he walked he heard four more shots, ten to 15 seconds after the first shots. From the window he could see a body in the middle of the road facing away from him and another man with long hair, a black leather jacket and a bag on his back. He looked like a “biker” and he was walking around, over and back, “like making an eight symbol” and he was shouting towards the body: “He’s a f****** wanker, he is a f****** wanker. I didn’t do anything, he is a f****** bollocks.”
Mr Silvera said he saw a male and female garda walking towards the man. The female garda shouted at him to put his hands behind his back and get on his knees. The man got to his knees and put his hands behind his head. She asked, where is the gun and Mr Silvera remembered the man replying, “over there” and pointing towards a car parked further along the street. The female garda told him to remove his backpack, which he did, before throwing it to his left side. “He kept saying, 'why are you doing this to me, I didn’t do anything' all the time, he wouldn’t stop.”
'I didn't do anything'
The gardaí handcuffed the man with his hands to the front while he was still on his knees but they then told him to move to the curb so he stood up and walked to the curb. Throughout, Mr Silvera could hear the man saying, “I didn’t do anything, he is a f****** wanker."
While one garda carried out CPR, the witness heard the man saying, “you are doing it wrong, you are doing it wrong.” He told the garda to do 15 compressions and then mouth to mouth. The garda, he said, told the man to “shut up”.
After gardaí had tried compressions three times, the man said: “Look, leave him alone, he is dead, he is gone, he is a f****** wanker, just leave him alone, he is gone.”
When two gardai “grabbed the shooter” by either arm, Mr Silvera said, the man began to “lose his head” and got “seriously angry”. He said repeatedly that he hadn’t done anything and asked: “Why are you doing this to me?”
Under cross-examination, the witness told Gerardine Small SC, for Mr Silver, that he also heard the shooter say: “If I didn’t kill him, he would have killed me.”
The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven men and five women.
