A man who denies murdering a father-of-one told gardaí that he had given away to a clothing collection company a pair of gloves that was found near the scene of the shooting and which contained firearms residue and his DNA, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Wayne Cooney (31), who denies murdering Jordan Davis, also told gardaí that he was "sorry the man was killed, but you have the wrong person".
Gardaí asked Mr Cooney to account for the presence of the North Face gloves with his matching DNA at Belcamp Lane, a short distance from where Mr Davis was shot dead outside Our Lady Immaculate Church in Darndale. Mr Cooney said that he has owned and does own North Face clothing, including gloves, but that he believed the gloves in question were previously left out for a clothing collection company.
Mr Cooney, with an address at Glenshane Drive in Tallaght, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Jordan Davis (22) at a lane-way beside Our Lady of Immaculate National School in Darndale in Dublin on May 22th, 2019. He has also pleaded not guilty to possessing a 9mm semi-automatic pistol and to possessing ammunition in circumstances that give rise to the reasonable inference that he did not have them for lawful purposes.
Garda interview
Detective Garda Neil Plunkett told Seoirse Ó Dúnlaing BL, for the prosecution, that he interviewed Mr Cooney at Coolock Garda Station on June 22, 2019. Gardaí invoked sections of the Criminal Justice Act 1984 which allow a jury to draw inferences if a person fails to answer questions or give explanations for their presence at certain locations.
Under the Act gardaí asked Mr Cooney to account for his alleged presence in Darndale in the days leading up to the shooting and at the time of the shooting and for his possession of a firearm and ammunition.
He denied that he was in the area at the time or that he was in possession of a firearm or ammunition. He also denied that he was the person on a bicycle seen in the Darndale area in the days leading up to the shooting and denied that he was the person on a bicycle captured on CCTV cycling up behind and shooting Mr Davis. He said that he noted the bicycle had been forensically examined and his DNA was not found.
He said that a garda who had identified him on CCTV footage was "wrong". "That is not me in the CCTV. I'm innocent," he said. He later told gardai: "I would never do that. I'm sorry the man was killed, but you have the wrong person."
Detective Garda Jeanette O'Neill of the Garda Technical Bureau's ballistics section also told the trial that she found nine spent bullet cartridges and two bullet casings on the lane and on the school grounds beside where Mr Davis's body was discovered.
Detective Garda Mark Collander told Mr Ó Dúnlaing that he examined the cartridges under a microscope and determined that they had been discharged from a "Glock type semi-automatic pistol". The bullets used would have been 9mm calibre, he said.
The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of eight men and four women.
