A Limerick murder trial has heard the accused man was threatened by members of a rival motorcycle club the evening before the alleged murder.
Alan McNamara from Mountfune in Murroe, Co Limerick is accused of murdering Andrew O’Donoghue outside the Road Tramps Motorcycle Club.
His stepson Robert Cusack is also on trial for allegedly hiding the sawn-off shotgun which Gardaí believe was used to kill him.
On June 19th 2015, Seamus Duggan said he received a call from a fellow member of the Road Tramps Motorcycle club to say a member of rival club the Caballeros had been spotted going into a pub in the village of Doon, Co Limerick.
He said the club used to ride a lot in Doon, Cappawhite, Cappaghmore and Murroe but he said he didn't think it was territorial. He said they just went down to have a look.
The accused Alan McNamara, who joined the Caballeros from the Road Tramps, was having a drink in the pub with his wife.
When he came out, Mr Duggan held his wife back as the two others removed his jacket which was emblazoned with his club colours.
Under cross-examination on behalf of Mr McNamara, Hugh Hartnett said his client was later threatened in front of his family by members of the Road Tramps outside his home, which was just a mile from the Road Tramps clubhouse.
He said a gun was being waved about and they threatened to burn down his house and kill his family.
Mr Duggan said he heard about it but didn't approve.
He told the prosecuting barrister that he was chased by at least one Caballeros member the following day and that he drove as fast as he could to the Road Tramps clubhouse in Murroe.
As he approached the clubhouse, he said he saw Mr McNamara on the side of the road with a sawn-off shotgun. He said the gates were closed so he drove on.
It is the prosecution’s case that Mr McNamara used that sawn-off shotgun to shoot Road Tramps member Andrew O’Donoghue in the face at point blank range and that his stepson Robert Cusack arrived on the scene shortly afterwards to take the gun off him and hide it in a wooded area behind his house.
Both men deny the charges.
