The jury in the trial of a man accused of killing a Detective in Roscommon has heard the accused claim he shot the Garda in 'self defence'
Stephen Silver of Foxford, Mayo denies the Capital Murder of Colm Horkan in Castlerea on June 17th, 2020
Video recordings of Mr Silver's second interview were played before the jury and showed detectives asking the motorbike mechanic to recount the struggle between him and Detective Horkan just before midnight on June 17th 2020.
Mr Silver described the incident as a detective attacking him with a gun, saying 'and now I'm here having my human rights breached. He also claimed that he didn't know the victim was a garda, despite confirming that Detective Horkan had said he was a member, stating to interviewers that he didn't present identification and was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger jacket.
The 46-year-old claimed that the Charlestown native went for his weapon, and the accused was forced to wrestle him for it, resulting in the gun discharging several times and also confirming he had pulled the trigger a number of times, while both were struggling for the gun.
When later asked again during the interview why he pulled the trigger, the bike mechanic denied having done so before stating 'what else would I do? Moments later he stated 'All I did is defend myself against an armed assailant.'
Stephen Silver also told investigating Gardai that Colm Horkan was 'carrying a gun with intention and I was his intention' before stating 'I was standing over him, I'd no glasses I shot him in case he got up again'.
Minutes later, the video shows Stephen Silver telling a Detective 'one of your members died, accept it, move on. It was self-defence.'
On asking to further discuss his statement of shooting Detective Horkan on the ground, Mr Silver claimed he never said that, then maintaining silence for a number of minutes when Gardaí told him he had.
