WITNESSES CONTRADICT STATEMENTS TO GARDAI

Three prosecution witnesses in the Josie Dwyer manslaughter trial in Dublin
Circuit Court yesterday contradicted statements they made to gardai about
details of the killing.

Two of the three also claimed that gardai falsely recorded their statements
about the attack on Mr Dwyer by anti-drugs vigilantes.

Trevor McMahon, a resident in the Fatima Mansions flat complex in south
central Dublin, said he was forced to make a statement to gardai and said
that a signature at the bottom of the statement was not his.

Ms Sandra Doyle, a niece of one of the accused, William Kenny, told
prosecuting counsel Mr George Birmingham SC that a statement she made to
gardai was inaccurate and she wished to withdraw it.

Ms Sinead Costelloe contradicted a statement she made to gardai about the
whereabouts of two of the accused on the night of the killing and said she
couldn't remember parts of the statement she made to gardai.

Four men, Hugh Byrne (33), Dolphin House; Mark Cooke (25), Dolphin House;
John Fitzpatrick (35), Fatima Mansions; and William Kenny (55), St Anthony's
Road, all Rialto, deny the manslaughter of drug addict Josie Dwyer on May
14, 1996.

It was the fourth day of the trial before a jury of eight men and three women.

Twelve men are charged with the manslaughter of Dwyer, which is alleged to
have occurred after an anti-drugs meeting in the Dolphin's Barn area of Dublin.

Mr Birmingham read from a statement McMahon made to gardai in which he
described Alan Byrne being attacked by a crowd of people.

McMahon told the court he never made the statement to gardai.

In her statement, Ms Doyle said that she saw Kenny hit Alan Byrne with a
stick and with his fist. Kenny also hit Josie Dwyer "mostly on the side". He
also hit Dwyer with a stick and punched him.

Ms Doyle told Mr Birmingham that she didn't make such a statement to gardai.
She added that she couldn't remember why she signed the statement.

In direct evidence, she said she saw a group of people on Basin Lane
"punching and kicking and doing everything" to Alan Byrne and Josie Dwyer.

The trial continues before Judge Dominic Lynch.