A LAW PROFESSOR who told gardaí he fired his revolver in the air over the heads of trespassers on his farm and was “stunned when one man went down” won bronze in three pistol competitions and received a gold medal in rifle discipline, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
However, the secretary of the National Association of Sporting Rifle and Pistol Clubs (NASRPC) agreed under cross-examination that leading barrister Diarmuid Phelan was in the beginners category of competitors and had achieved “a somewhat pedestrian score” when he came third in a five-shot or small bore pistol competition.
The witness also agreed with the defence that the accused man had not been unsafe when handling guns during these competitions.
In her opening address, Róisín Lacey SC said the jury will hear evidence that on the day in question three men – the deceased Keith Conlon, along with Kallum Coleman and Robin Duggan – had trespassed on a wooded area of Phelan’s land while hunting foxes or badgers.
Phelan (56) pleaded not guilty to murdering father-of-four Keith ‘Bono’ Conlon (36) at Hazelgrove Farm, Kiltalown Lane, Tallaght, Dublin 24, on 24 February 2022.
The accused man is a barrister, law lecturer and farmer who owns Hazelgrove, formerly a golf course in Tallaght.
Conlon, from Kiltalown Park in Tallaght, was seriously injured in the shooting incident on 22 February 2022 and died from a single gunshot wound to the head at Tallaght University Hospital two days later.
Giving evidence today, Nigel Barrett, secretary of the NASRPC, told John Byrne SC, prosecuting, that his organisation caters for rifle, pistol and revolver competitions. He said the club also organises national and international competitions.
Phelan took part in competitions between 2011 and 2013, he said. On 1 May 2011, Phelan placed third in a B class national competition, getting a bronze medal in a small bore pistol time and precision competition.
In the July 2013 Irish Open, the accused got a B class bronze medal in a five-shot or small bore pistol competition.
Phelan received a similar B class bronze medal in June 2013 in a national competition. The accused did not place in the Irish Open in 2012.
In 2011, the witness said, Phelan received a gold medal in a bench rest rifle discipline.
Under cross-examination, the witness agreed with Sean Guerin SC, defending, that there are different categories of competitors in the disciplines; X, A and B class. Barrett agreed that B class is the beginners’ class.
“Only if you are good enough at that would you be capable of moving up to the A class and eventually X class?,” asked Mr Guerin, which the witness agreed with.
Guerin put it to the witness that he would have noticed someone handling guns in an unsafe way during these competitions. “Virtually everything in a target shooting club is about safety, so people who stand out don’t tend to last,” Barrett replied.
The witness said he does not have any particular memory of Phelan, so therefore he doesn’t remember him being unsafe. “He doesn’t stand out in that way?,” counsel asked. Barrett said the accused had not.
Guerin said his client had only won a bench rest rifle competition, where the rifle rested on a table so it holds a fixed position and the competitor is seated.
Barrett said the bench rest rifle competition is about controlling oneself and the competitor has to be very, very precise.
Asked about the quality of the accused’s shooting, Barrett referenced the B class bronze medal in June 2013 and said the accused’s score was 250 out of 300. He said this would be an “average best kind of score” and to be competitive at that distance one would be scoring in the high 290s.
Referring to Phelan’s score in July 2013 where he came third with a B class bronze medal, Barrett said the accused’s score of 325 out of 400 would be a “somewhat pedestrian score”.
“It’s not a bad score but being competitive at this discipline would be in the 380/390s,” he said.
The witness agreed it was possible the accused was third best of three in the B class competition and possibly he came last and got a medal for it.
Superintendent Jason Miley told Michael Bowman SC, defending, that a statement was taken from trespasser Kallum Coleman at Tallaght Garda Station on the day after the incident.
He agreed that Coleman spoke to another garda on the phone the next day, indicating he was anxious and nervous that having made the statement he could be perceived as “a rat”.
The witness said, up to the point in time, Coleman didn’t appear in court when he was expected to have given evidence. Bowman said this was “everyone’s view”.
The trial has heard that key witness Coleman was last seen in Spain. He agreed to return to Ireland to give evidence, but the jury heard he had “a change of heart” and “legged it” whilst gardaí stopped to get refreshments en route to a Spanish airport.
Defence counsel Bowman has told the trial that 23-year-old Coleman had booked himself a one-way ticket to Spain and was “holing” up in a hotel when a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.
The jury heard further evidence today of written complaints made by Phelan to the gardai about “ongoing criminality” on his land. Some of the culprits were “hardcore”, Miley said, and people were “scoping” the yards.
He said an insurance company had declined to insure the old golf clubhouse on Phelan’s land after stones were thrown at representatives who came out to inspect it. Arsonists burned the clubhouse down at a cost of half a million euro, Phelan wrote.
“Mr Phelan’s concerns were taken seriously by the gardaí and they had responded,” Bowman said.
“Absolutely,” Miley replied.
This afternoon, Miley was cross-examined by defence counsel Guerin, who asked the officer about garda records for Robin Duggan. Counsel said Duggan was the third man in the wooded area when one of the trespasser’s dogs was shot.
Miley agreed that garda records are kept in a system known as ‘Pulse’ and one of its features is that it contains a section known as ‘Core Details’.
A subheading called ‘Modus Operandi’ is within the ‘Core Details’ section, which the witness said detailed the way people go about alleged crime and can sometimes be used for gathering statistical data.
In relation to other incidents on the accused’s farm, Miley said no named suspects had been identified.
In re-examination, Miley agreed with Lacey, prosecuting, that Duggan’s previous conviction under section three of the Misuse of Drugs Act was dealt with in the District Court, that he was convicted of the offence in 2011 and received a €100 fine.
The witness agreed that none of Duggan’s previous convictions “record any offence relating to violence, the use of violence or the threat of violence”.
Lacey then told the jury that it was extremely likely that the prosecution would be in a position to close its case in the morning.
The 12 jurors were told by the State in their opening address that Phelan said he was shaking with fear and “scrambled” up a bank to get away but when the deceased man Keith Conlon and Coleman kept coming, he believed they were “coming to fulfil the threats they had made”.
In her opening speech, 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 Conlon’s body and that the penetration was an accidental, unintended result, she stated.
The State’s case, 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, when it is expected that the prosecution will close its case.
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