Van Evidence Outlined In Bray Boxing Club Murder Trial

The trial of a man accused of murder and two counts of attempted murder in a shooting at Bray Boxing Club will hear that a van allegedly used in the attack was found ‘not a million miles away’ from the accused’s family home.

Gerard Cervi, 34, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Bobby Messett, 50, at the club in Bray Harbour, Bray, Co. Wicklow, on June 5, 2018.

He also denies the attempted murder of boxing coach Peter Taylor, who is the father of Olympic legend Katie Taylor, and Ian Britton in the club on the same date.

Resuming his opening address to the jury on Wednesday, prosecuting counsel Paul Murray SC said that he had given ‘a snapshot’ of the case on Tuesday and now wanted to go into a little bit more detail as to what they can expect to hear during the trial.

The prosecution barrister said that this was a ‘circumstantial evidence case’, where one piece of evidence in itself does not prove the guilt of a particular person, but when all the pieces are added together or weighed, then it clearly leads to the inevitable guilt of the accused man.

‘That is so in the present case, and when one hears all the evidence you can be sure of the guilt of Mr Cervi,’ he stressed.

The shooting occurred just before 7am on June 5 at Bray Boxing Club, Mr Murray said, and the jury would hear that a witness saw a man leaving the premises at Bray Harbour that morning.

‘They heard the engine of a vehicle revving and a white or silver van sped past it at the harbour area. It had a yellow registration plate so it was a UK or Northern Irish car and she recalled the registration number to be DTF or DZ,’ he outlined.

Mr Murray said evidence will be heard that a resident in Cabinteely, Co. Dublin, saw what the prosecution contends is the very same van in a cul de sac in or around the Cornelscourt area shortly after 7am that day.

‘She took the registration plate down, it was a van, DFZ 9341,’ he said.

At this time, gardaí were looking for the particular vehicle which had left Bray Harbour that morning, he continued.

During the day, Mr Murray said, a resident from Pigeon House Road in Ringsend, Dublin, contacted gardaí at 1.30pm to report a vehicle parked on the street.

‘That was vehicle DFZ, a silver metallic Volkswagen van with a number of distinguishing features with sliding doors and a long wheel base,’ the barrister said.

He added: ‘We also have a witness who saw the van there [at Pigeon House Road] at 8.15am… and a man with a bicycle.’

Mr Murray said it is the prosecution’s case that the man with the bicycle is Mr Cervi, from the East Wall area in Dublin 3, and a connection can be made between the man with the bicycle and Russell Avenue East, which he said was the family home of the accused.

The lawyer said Russell Avenue is not ‘a million miles away’ from where the vehicle was found at 1.30pm on June 5.

Opening the case on Tuesday, Mr Murray said a ‘lone gunman’, who it contends is Mr Cervi, walked into Bray Boxing Club before 7am on June 5 and fired nine shots from a semi-automatic pistol, leaving one man dead and two other men injured.