UPROAR IN COURT AS JAIL SUSPENDED FOR VIGILANTE

There was uproar in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court when a drugs `vigilante'
who supplied the gun used to kill heroin dealer Chester Beatty was given a
three-year suspended sentence.

The late Mr Beatty's daughter shouted "Scumbags" and "You killed my da but
you didn't have the bottle to do it yourselves" when Judge Frank O'Donnell
imposed the suspended sentence on 57-year-old John Dwyer and remanded his
brother Christopher (51) on bail for sentence on May 9, next.

A mini-scuffle ensued while, still shouting at the Dwyers, she was ushered
out of the court by family members and gardai.

Both men, with addresses at Beresford Street, Dublin 1, pleaded guilty to
unlawful possession of a .22 calibre Smith and Wesson revolver on November
30, 1997, the day Beatty was murdered.

Christopher Dwyer had 10 previous convictions. The last of these was in 1973
when he was given a four-year suspended sentence for a manslaughter arising
out of a street melee. John Dwyer had no previous convictions.

The court heard the Dwyers blamed Beatty for the death of Christopher's
stepson, Mark Dwyer, who was mutilated and murdered by Joe "Cotton-Eye"
Delaney and his son Scott, on December 14, 1996. Both Delaneys are serving
life sentences for Mark Dwyer's murder.

Detective Sergeant Eunan Dolan told prosecuting counsel Tom O'Connell BL
that Christopher Dwyer, who was Mark Dwyer's stepfather, remained
traumatised after the death of his stepson and became obsessed by the garda
investigation of the case.

Det Sgt Dolan told Mr O'Connell that both Dwyers insisted in the course of
their detention that the gun was intended to "frighten" but not murder
Chester Beatty.

He said Chester Beatty was drinking upstairs with a number of friends in the
Wild Heather pub on Mary Street, near the city centre on November 30, a
Sunday afternoon.

Christopher Dwyer had been observing Beatty for some time and was drinking
with his girlfriend downstairs in the same pub.

Det Sgt Dolan said he left the pub and went to his address nearby on
Beresford Street where he met his brother John and two other men who took
possession of the .22 calibre revolver. The men went to the pub where a
gunman wearing a balaclava opened fire on Beatty. The firearm was found
lying besides the dead body. Christopher Dwyer was arrested later in a
Waterford hotel where he was staying under a false name.

Det Sgt Dolan said a man called Mark Comerford was later charged with the
murder but shot himself on the morning his trial was scheduled to start at
the Central Criminal Court.

Det Sgt Dolan agreed with defence counsel Niall Durnin BL that Christopher
Dwyer assisted the garda investigation into the death of Mark Dwyer and
became obsessed with the case. He had been in custody since last January
when he failed to appear for his trial on this matter and was arrested in a
Skerries, Co Dublin hotel where he was registered under a false name.

Mr Durnin appealed for leniency for his client and asked the court to deal
with him non-custodially. Last July, when John Dwyer pleaded guilty,
Detective Inspector John McMahon agreed with defence counsel Eamonn Leahy SC
that he had kept the gun because of a genuine fear for his own safety. He
became involved with the Dublin anti-drugs movement in the early 80s and was
shot at six times in 1985 as he drove from his house. His wife and daughter
had also been assaulted and Mass cards had been sent to their home.