A motorbike mechanic accused of the murder of Detective Colm Horkan in Castlerea two years ago told Gardaí that he fired the weapon ‘until the gun stopped.’
Stephen Silver has pleaded not guilty to the capital murder but has entered a guilty plea to manslaughter due to diminished responsibility.
Daniel Considine reports:
This afternoon the jury witnessed video footage of a further interview of Stephen Silver in connection with the fatal shooting on June 17th 2020. Gardaí began by asking the 46-year-old to identify the people at the scene during the incident, with the accused pointing out himself, his friend James Coyne and Detective Colm Horkan who he branded ‘the assailant’. On bringing detectives through the fight again, Mr Silver described James Coyne as shouting ‘Don’t Stephen!’ as he began to struggle with the Charlestown native. He told Gardaí that he didn’t know how the gun came loose, saying ‘he took it out or I took it out. I honestly can’t remember’, later adding ‘I ended up with the weapon.’ When asked to recreate the way he had held the gun, Mr Silver took off his glasses and mimed holding the pistol out in front of him with two hands. According to the Garda recording he stated that he was standing and had his finger on the trigger before claiming that he fired it ‘until the gun stopped’.
When asked did he feel threatened when he had the gun and Detective Horkan was on the ground, Mr Silver responded that he did feel threatened, stating that ‘all I could see was a shape on the ground, he could have had another gun. ‘He claims he did not have time to think with the next thing he heard being ‘Shots fired, drop the gun’ shouted by Gardaí at the scene.
The trial will continue at the central criminal court in Dublin on Monday
