A man who lives near to where Detective Garda Colm Horkan was shot dead witnessed "odd behaviour", roaring and shouting and two people driving dangerously on a motorbike shortly before he heard a series of “pops” that he thought might be gunshots, a murder trial has heard.
Paul McGarry told the trial of Stephen Silver, who denies murdering the detective, that he also heard one of the men shouting: “Come out ye c**ts.”
Another witness, Laura McIntyre, said one of the men seemed “really agitated” and she heard him “dare the armed squad to come down here” before saying something about a “sniper to get a good shot and something about machine guns”.
Stephen Silver (46), a motorbike mechanic from Aughavard, Foxford, Co Mayo, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Det Garda Horkan on June 17th, 2020 at Castlerea, Co Roscommon.
He is charged that he knew or was reckless as to whether Det Garda Horkan was a member of An Garda Síochána acting in accordance with his duty. He pleaded guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Mr McGarry told prosecution counsel James Dwyer SC that when he arrived at his home in Knockroe, Castlerea on June 17th, 2020, things were “normal, quiet” but a few minutes later he heard a “loud rattling van coming up the road at high speed.”
He looked out his window and saw the van travelling at high speed across the road where it pulled up outside the house of his neighbour, James Coyne.
'Roaring and shouting'
Mr McGarry recalled hearing “roaring and shouting” and someone shouting: “Come out ye c**ts.”
He said he could see two men “ducking behind walls”, engaging in odd or abnormal behaviour and the roaring and shouting continued. He told his wife to call the gardaí.
He then heard a high-powered motorbike which drove “very fast” past his house. “It was very dangerous. There were no lights and at one stage the man was driving with no hands on the steering,” he said.
The men took turns in doing a lap of the area and then the driver did a “burnout”, by spinning around and creating smoke from the back wheel. When the burnout was finished, the bike was put away and Mr McGarry saw two men, one of them being James Coyne, walking up the green past his home towards Castlerea.
A few minutes later, at 11.50pm, the witness saw an unmarked garda Hyundai vehicle enter the estate and then leave.
Mr McGarry said: “I was just sitting with my wife talking about what happened and we heard a pop, pop. I heard two at first and I said, they sound like shootings.”
A few seconds later he heard four more pops in rapid succession. He said he was “in shock” but did not know what he had heard.
He later saw James Coyne return to the estate and go to his own home.
'Driving recklessly'
Laura McIntyre said she went to bed at about 10pm that night and heard a motorbike “going around outside my house.”
She went to her window and saw a man doing four or five laps “driving recklessly and loud, very fast”.
He was wearing a high-visibility jacket with no sleeves and had black clothing underneath. He had dark hair and a beard and looked about in his 40s.
After doing laps, the bike started spinning in circles, leaving skid marks and creating smoke.
The bike went into James Coyne’s driveway, she said, and she saw the bearded man coming out onto the road. He started shouting, walking back and forward and sometimes touching either side of his head with his hands.
He seemed “really agitated”, she said, and he dared the "armed squad" to come down. He was shouting, saying something about a “sniper to get a good shot and something about machine guns. I closed the window and went to bed.”
Earlier on Monday, Garda Ray O’Dowd told Michael Delaney SC, for the prosecution, that he was the member in charge at Castlerea Garda station that day.
He recalled that Det Garda Horkan began his duty at 2pm, and at 3pm he took out a firearm and 30 rounds of ammunition.
That afternoon, a man not known to Garda O’Dowd entered the public area and “began to rant about some elderly person having been abused”.
Garda O’Dowd said the man was “very angry” and said he had the abuse on video and was going to take it to the media.
He added: “I asked him what incident he was talking about and who was abused and when he was abused but he didn’t make any conversation with me.”
Blue van
The person left after about 30 seconds and got into a blue van. The garda did a Pulse check on the van which showed that it was registered to a Stephen Silver in Foxford.
Garda O’Dowd did not know Mr Silver, but said he did ask gardaí on duty that day if they had any interaction with an elderly person, however, nobody knew anything.
Derek Mannion told Mr Delaney that he is a bus driver and was taking a break at about 2.30pm when Mr Silver pulled up alongside him in his blue van.
He said he has known Mr Silver for about 25 years and had last seen him at a rock gig in January of that year.
They chatted and Mr Mannion showed Mr Silver a video on his phone of a garda raid on James Coyne’s home in Knockroe. He said someone had sent the footage to him on Facebook Messenger. He said they both agreed that the raid was “a bit over the top”.
Mr Mannion allowed gardaí to download the footage from his phone and the jury was shown the footage on Monday.
Francis McDonnell told Mr Dwyer, for the prosecution, that he owned a Suzuki motorbike and brought it to Mr Silver for a service and repairs at about 9pm that night.
While dropping off the bike, Mr McDonnell said he spoke with Mr Silver who gestured towards another man who was at the motorbike repair shop and said: “The guards broke into that guy’s house today and wrecked the place.”
Mr McDonnell said Mr Silver then told him they were going into Castlerea.
The trial continues on Tuesday in front of Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven men and five women at the Central Criminal Court.
