A law professor fired a third gunshot from his revolver "at the same time" as two unarmed trespassers on his farm were "turning to go", an agricultural worker has told his murder trial.
Asked by the prosecutor whether she was concerned when she saw one of the intruders coming towards the accused, the farmhand said she was afraid the trespassers were going to do something to Diarmuid Phelan's dog and that this was her only concern.
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.
Giving evidence today, French national Alexandra Fernandes (48) told John Byrne SC, prosecuting, that she came to work on Mr Phelan's farm in early February 2022 in exchange for a place to stay and be fed. She said her duties on the farm included feeding the animals and cutting bushes.
Ms Fernandes said on February 22, 2022 she was working with the accused and three other farmhands: Julien Roudaut, Pierre Godreu and Hannah Felgner. She recalled Mr Phelan having a rifle on his shoulder while he was operating a digger.
The witness said Mr Phelan had a little dog called 'Tal' and he had gone missing for a few minutes. She said Julien had gone to look for him in a wooded area of the farm. She recalled Julien coming out of the bushes with Tal and approaching the accused, who was driving the digger at the time.
Ms Fernandes said three minutes later Mr Phelan, Julien and Tal walked down to the bushes, where she had seen Julien earlier enter and exit. She said the rifle was on the accused's shoulder.
The witness said she continued using a strimmer to cut the bushes and was wearing headphones at the time. When she went to take off her sweatshirt she removed the headphones and heard men's voices shouting and arguing behind her. She couldn't hear what they were arguing about.
Ms Fernandes said she put the tools down and went down to where she had seen Mr Phelan and Julien enter the bushes. When she reached the bushes, she said the accused and Julien came out. The accused man gave her Tal, who was on a lead, and told her to take him.
The witness said Mr Phelan went back to the digger. She said the accused seemed normal and Julien looked preoccupied.
Five minutes later, the witness said she saw two men "coming towards us" who were arguing with Mr Phelan.
The witness agreed she was looking down the field and that the two men were coming towards them. She said the first man was chubby, had really short hair and was wearing a tracksuit. She saw "wet around his eyes" and agreed with counsel that she thought he was crying,
She said the first man was arguing with Mr Phelan and speaking loudly, but she didn't understand what was being said. She heard the accused tell him: "Go, Go".
Ms Fernandes said the first man was walking but knew where he wanted to go. Ms Fernandes said the first man was going towards the accused.
She said she was looking at the first man's hands because she was afraid he was going to "take something to avenge on Tal". She said the second man was walking behind the first and also walking towards the accused.
The witness said it was necessary for the two men to walk past her in order to walk towards Mr Phelan.
At this point, Ms Fernandes said she heard a noise, which she understood to be a gun. She turned her head and saw the accused with his arm in the air holding a gun. She said the gun was big "like an alert gun you see on boats".
When she saw Mr Phelan shoot in the air, the witness looked back and saw that the two men were still walking towards the accused. She said Mr Phelan kept saying: "Go, Go, Go".
She said the first man was maybe five or six meters from the accused when she heard the first bang.
She then heard a second bang but didn't turn her head towards Mr Phelan "because I knew what it was".
Ms Fernandes said she was looking at the first man when she heard the third shot fired. "I kept on looking at the two men walking and when the third shot [was fired] I saw the first man turning away to go because I saw his face again. The second man did the same thing," she added.
Questioned further, the witness stated: "When I heard the third shot, at the same time I saw the two men starting to go back because I was seeing their faces again. They walked towards me".
Mr Byrne asked the witness: "You say you saw the first man turn or commence to turn, and I'm asking you to clarify what you mean by at the same time, what did you hear and/or see at the same time?".
Ms Fernandes replied: "I think that I saw the two men turning back at the same time as the third shot".
She said she saw blood on the back of the first man's head when he went past her. "He made one step, two steps, and then he fell into the bunker," she continued. She said the man had fallen face-first.
The witness said when the second man left, the accused had slowly come towards the first man on the ground, looked at his farmhands and asked them to call for help.
She said Mr Phelan left in a buggy and returned with a First Aid kit. She said the accused rendered assistance to the injured man before gardaí arrived. She said the injured man had tried to take his phone out of his pocket to call for help.
Asked whether she was concerned when she saw the first man coming towards Mr Phelan, the witness said she was afraid they were going to do something to the dog Tal because she knew the accused had killed their dog. She told the prosecutor that this was her only concern.
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 tomorrow before Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford and a jury of nine men and three women.
