Diarmuid Rossa Phelan barrister

A leading barrister accused of murdering a father-of-four in a fatal shooting on farmland in Tallaght last month has a "powerful incentive to evade justice" ...

"People who find themselves in desperate situations will be tempted to evade the consequences," she added. Mr O'Higgins has told the court that "the tenor" of Mr Phelan's statement to gardaí was that the shooting was an accident, where he had crossed the gun over from left to right in an arc and was left "stunned" by Mr Conlon's injury. The High Court has heard that Mr Phelan has assets valued in the millions, while during his evidence to the court last Tuesday, gardaí learned for the first time that the accused is a US citizen and has property in Colorado. The Associate Professor of Law at Trinity College told gardaí in interview that he accepted he shot Mr Conlon with the licensed firearm but said he was under threat and was "terrified" at the time. The High Court heard last week that a witness told gardaí that Mr Phelan shot Mr Conlon, who was unarmed, in the back of the head as he turned to run away after an altercation on farmland at the foot of the Dublin mountains last month. The judge said today that Mr Phelan has a "powerful incentive to evade justice" based on the seriousness of the charge, the strength of the evidence, the likely sentence and the ongoing threats to the accused.