The first Garda interviews of the man charged with the murder of Detective Garda Colm Horkan have been played before the jury in his trial this afternoon.
Stephen Silver, a motorbike mechanic from Foxford in Mayo has pleaded guilty to Manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility following the shooting dead of Colm Horkan in Castlerea on the 17th of June, 2020.
Daniel Considine reports:
"I just wanted to go for an Apache Pizza, I didn't think I'd end up here", the words said by the accused during his interview by Gardaí following his arrest for the shooting of Colm Horkan. The jury of 7 men and 5 women have spent the afternoon examining CCTV recordings of Silver's first interview with Detective Sergeant Brian Hanly and Detective Garda Paddy Farrell on the afternoon of June 18th. When asked by the Gardaí why Mr Silver believed he was in custody, he replied that 'I was attacked by an unknown man' and that after a struggle with the victim, Silver found himself 'standing there with a gun and a man on the ground.' On walking into town to get food at around 11.30, Mr Silver told the interviewing detectives that a 'big blue tank of a car' pulled up and lowered the passenger side window. He claims the man in the car asked 'who are you?' before Silver repeated the question back to him, claiming Colm Horkan answered 'I'm a Garda'.
On exiting the vehicle, Mr Silver claims he saw that Detective Horkan was wearing a Tommy Hilfiger top, asking Detective Farrell if 'Tommy Hilfiger make Gardaí uniforms?' and responding 'I don't think so.' In a question to the interviewers, Stephen Silver asked 'How I was supposed to know he was a Garda? He'd a Dub registered car and I know the drug scene up in Dublin.' He claims that Detective Horkan came too close to him, and he was forced to push him away which according to his interview with Gardaí, resulted in the victim attacking him, with Silver claiming his martial arts training allowed him to deflect Colm Horkan's initial blows. In his statement to Gardaí, he said a struggle ensued and that he felt Horkan 'go for something' before seeing saw a gun in a holster on his hip. He claims the gun appeared in the detectives hand and went off several times saying 'he must of shot himself'. In describing the incident during the interview, he said he got control of the gun saying 'I think I shot him but I couldn't see anything with out my glasses.'
Evidence in the trial will resume at the central criminal court in Dublin, tomorrow morning.
