The €10,000 price for a young dad's brutal death
Bouncer's killer tells court of hearing voices and depraved sexual acts
It was a murder that was shocking in its brutality and clinical in its execution. Brian Fitzgerald, a young father-of-two, was gunned down outside his own front door because he had offended shady underworld figures in Limerick.
Last week, another chapter in the long running investigation concluded with the conviction of one man and the acquittal of three others.
Gary Campion, a 24-year-old Limerick man, is beginning a life sentence this weekend for the murder of nightclub bouncer Brian Fitzgerald in Limerick five years ago.
Three other men, also accused of taking part in the murder, were all found not guilty. Clare businessman Anthony Kelly, 50, with an address at Kilrush, and brothers Desmond, 23, and John Dundon, 27, both from Ballinacurra Weston, in Co Limerick, were all acquitted by the 12-man jury.
Campion, with an address at Pineview Gardens, Moyross, Limerick, drove the motorcycle that carried James Martin Cahill -- the chief prosecution witness, who is already serving a life sentnce for the murder -- away from the murder scene, after Cahill had shot Mr Fitzgerald four times in the chest and head.
On November 29, 2002, Brian Fitzgerald was back in work for the first time after a couple of days off. He was head of security at Doc's Nightclub in Limerick City. During the five-week trial, his widow, Alice, told the court that he had left for work that night, as usual, at about 8.10pm.
Before he left, he bathed the couple's two young children and stayed with them until they fell asleep.
He normally arrived home at around 3.10am and after she had been up giving one of the children a bottle, at around 2am, she sat up to wait for him.
Caroline Daly, the bar manager at Doc's told the court that night she had left with Mr Fitzgerald and a couple of other colleagues at 3.15am. Brian Fitzgerald was giving them a lift home.
It was around 3.50am before Alice Fitzgerald heard her husband's jeep draw up outside the house and the door open.
James Martin Cahill and Gary Campion were waiting for him.
Cahill ran towards him firing his gun and there was a struggle. Alice Fitzgerald told the court how her husband looked at her through the glass in the door as she stood, trying to phone the gardai. She described seeing a "big, fat, stocky guy" and a second man with "very shiny eyes" and jet-black eyebrows, that met.
Mr Fitzgerald was shot outside the house but managed to get up and run for help. Cahill followed him, limping from a twisted ankle. He caught up with him as he was banging on the door of a house.
Cahill told the court he fired the first couple of shots across the bonnet of a car, then walked round to where Mr Fitzgerald was lying and shot him in the head.
Over four and a half days, 33-year-old Birmingham man James Martin Cahill told the court how events led up to the shooting. He said he had been hired by a man, referred to as Mr A for legal reasons, for €10,000. Mr A wanted someone shot who had "made a statement against him".
Cahill told the court that a couple of days before the murder he was driven to Dublin by Mr C, who also cannot be named.
With Mr A, they met with another man, who also cannot be named, Mr D, who was to drive the motorcycle for the killing.
There was a meeting at Treacy's Pub at the Heath, outside Portlaoise, on the afternoon of November 28.
Mr A and a fourth man, Mr B, met with Cahill and arrangements were made to get a gun.
Later that evening, Mr D arrived from Dublin. He was having trouble with his motorcycle and, when he learned exactly what the plan was, he backed out altogether. Gary Campion was called to try and fix the bike and, when this proved unsuccessful, he was asked if he would provide a bike himself and drive it for the murder.
At around 1.50am Cahill and Campion hid in bushes a short distance from Mr Fitzgerald's house and started to wait.
Cahill described how, after the murder, Campion disposed of the motorcycle and helmets by setting fire to them. The burning bike was seen by several witnesses down a laneway behind a garage outside Limerick.
Gary Campion took a taxi back home to Pineview Gardens at around 4.10am, having a conversation with the driver, Mr Christopher Kelly, about whether or not he should go and visit his grandfather, who was dying in St John's Hospital, Limerick, at the time. Cahill travelled to Belfast to meet Mr A and on December 2, they travelled to Liverpool.
Cahill said he had begun hearing voices in 2005 screaming at him because of all the things he had done in his life. He was serving a five-year sentence for a firearms offence. The voices only went away when he told the truth.
He made detailed statements to gardai in May and November 2005, describing his involvement in Brian Fitzgerald's murder.
During his evidence, he told the court that at this stage he thought prison officers and gardai wanted to kill him.
He also wrote a 190-page memoir called "My Life of Crime", giving details of various criminal activities including murder, drug dealing and a trip to Berlin to buy remote controlled car bombs.
He named 100 individuals in this document, including some of the biggest names in crime in both Ireland and the UK.
During the trial, gardai confirmed that no one had been questioned or arrested as a result of this document and there were no plans to do so.
During his cross examination, Cahill also admitted to acts of paedophilia and bestiality. He said he had abused a dog and a nine-month-old baby and had fantasised about having sex with a horse and also with his mother.
He claimed to have told gardai about the children he had abused. gardai confirmed that they had thought Cahill himself had been abused, from what he said.
He admitted to hearing screaming voices during his time in the witness stand, although he said they were now friendly and were telling him everything was OK.
- Abigail Rieley
