Man shot dead at Louth forest tried to sell ‘stolen’ car to friend, court told

A jury has heard that one of two men shot dead in a Louth forest five years ago had tried to sell a ‘stolen’ car to his friend just hours earlier.

His friend gave the evidence to the Central Criminal Court today in the trial of a Dublin man, charged with murdering two fellow Dubliners on March 7th, 2012.

Jason O’Driscoll (34), with an address at Richmond Avenue, Fairview, has pleaded not guilty to murdering car thieves 31-year-old Anthony Burnett and 25-year-old Joseph Redmond at a forest outside Dundalk.

The trial has already heard that firefighters were called to a burning car in Ravensdale Forest Park shortly before 11 o'clock that night. Two bodies with gunshot wounds to the head were discovered inside.

Donald Macken testified yesterday that he had known Anthony Burnett since the June before his death.

“I met him in Turkey on holidays,” he recalled.

He told Alexander Owens SC, prosecuting, that they had become friends, as had their families, and that he’d had a lot of contact with him.

“He played football with us,” he explained.

He said he had last spoken to Mr Burnett around 6pm on the day of his death.

“He just asked me did I want to buy a Golf,” he explained.

He recalled that it was a black 2011 Golf GTI and that the price was “a thousand pound”.

Under cross examination by Seán Guerin SC, defending, he explained that Mr Burnett had told him that ‘one of the lads’ had the car and asked if he had known anyone, who would want to buy it.

Mr Guerin put it to him that it was obvious that it was stolen, when he heard the year and price.

“Yeah,” he agreed. “I didn’t want anything to do with it.”

Mr Macken said he had asked the deceased why he was getting involved with it. Mr Burnett had answered that he’d make a few euro for selling it, he said

The trial has already heard that the Volkswagen Golf in which the two men were found dead had been stolen from a driveway in Sandymount in the early hours of March 7th.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of eight men and four women.