I was set up, says mum on gun charges

Deirdre Moran said: "Someone put it there without my knowledge."

Moran (25), of Glengar, Larkhill Road, Sligo, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to possession of a Smith and Wesson .22 Long Rifle Revolver at the Lucan Bypass on the M4 on September 1, 2009.

She allegedly picked up the gun in west Dublin and was stopped by gardai later.

She agreed with Michael Bowman, prosecuting, that gardai had "significant interest" in the father of her seven-year-old child, but said she had not been in a relationship with him since the child was born.

Mr Bowman asked her: "How many people could be involved in setting you up and have that much information to give to gardai of your whereabouts that day and the time you were to be in the shopping centre car park?"

Moran said she believed it was a "conspiracy and a set up".

"A lot of ridiculous things do happen and this is the most serious thing that has happened to me and the most damaging to my life," she told Mr Bowman.

JUMPER

Moran told her counsel, Alan Toal, that she had travelled to Liffey Valley Shopping Centre from Sligo to purchase a navy jumper for her son for PE as shops in her town had sold out.

She said she is "not sure" if she locked her car that day as it is normal for her to "run in and out of shops in Sligo without locking the car".

She said she purchased the jumper in Dunnes Stores and placed the item in its bag behind the driver's seat.

She denied she came to Dublin to collect a gun and denied that she met anyone who gave her a gun. She also denied that she knew the gun was under the passenger seat of the car.

The trial continues.

hnews@herald.ie