The jury in the trial of a man accused of the murder of a Detective in Roscommon two years ago has completed their viewing of the defendant's third Garda interview.
Stephen Silver has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder of Colm Horkan in Castlerea in 2020 but guilty to manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility.
Daniel Considine reports:
The trial began it's 10th day with the recordings of Mr Silver showing him to identify his personal belongings with detectives requesting the accused to identify a backpack, glasses case and phone recovered from the scene. The interview began with Stephen Silver and his Solicitor, Gearoid Geraghty stating that Mr. Silver would remain silent and not answer further questions. However, over the course of the afternoon, the accused began interacting with Detectives, telling them to practice social distancing and remove themselves from his surrounds. He then made a statement to Gardaí regarding the seriousness of the Coronavirus before telling the interviewing detectives, both of whom were wearing masks, that they must go and put on full PPE gowns before he would answer any further questions. When assured by a detective that he was wearing sufficient PPE for the interview, Stephen Silver replied 'what, a stupid looking suit and a mask? You wouldn't last long on a building site.'
As Gardaí requested the defendant to identify his personal belongings, Silver stood up and began fixing the interrogation room blind, before claiming the detective had the intelligence of a beanstalk. When shown a samsung mobile phone and asked to confirm was it his own, Mr Silver stated that while it looked like his phone, he couldn't be sure Gardaí hadn't tampered with it. The accused once again began fixing the window blind with detectives assuring him that if he completed the interview, they would do their best to repair it themselves. Minutes later, when Gardaí were reading back the transcript of the interview, the bike mechanic accused Detective Reidy of staring at him, saying 'Stop giving me the eye, Bucko, I'll take the eyes out of your head and put them on the floor.'
Detectives finished confirming the record and brought the third interview of Stephen Silver to a close.
