Judgement in a trial concerning a man accused of the double sectarian murders of two Catholic workmen in Belfast in May 1994 will be made “before Easter”, a court has heard.
After closing submissions were made by the Crown and defence, Mr Justice O’Hara revealed he will give his ruling on whether or not James Stewart Smyth (57) committed the murders.
Eamon Fox (41) and Gary Convie (24) were working on a building site in the Tiger’s Bay area of Belfast and were sitting in a Vauxhall Polo eating lunch when the car was riddled with bullets fired from a gunman standing in an adjacent children’s playground.
The attack was claimed by the UVF and it is the Crown’s case that Smyth - a former member of the UDR from Forthriver Link in north Belfast - was the gunman.
As well as denying the murders of Mr Convie and Mr Fox, Smyth has also denied the attempted murder of a third workman on the same date.
During a non-jury trial that was opened at Belfast Crown Court last October, the Crown called several witnesses including former UVF commander turned supergrass Gary Haggarty.
From the witness box, he implicated Smyth as the gunman and said the workmen were murdered due to “pure sectarianism”.
During Wednesday’s hearing, Haggarty’s reliability was questioned by defence barrister Michael Borrelli KC.
Kieran Murphy KC highlighted three “substantial parts of the case”.
These, he said, were Smyth’s DNA located on the collar of a jacket found along with the murder weapon 11 days after the shooting; Smyth’s previous involvement in a sectarian murder in Ballymena in January 1994 and Haggarty’s evidence.
Mr Murphy told Mr Justice O’Hara the lack of any evidence or explanation given by Smyth “led to an inevitable conclusion” that Mr Convie and Mr Fox were murdered by Smyth.
Mr Borrelli said the Crown had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Smyth was the gunman.
He said the defence made “concessions” regarding Smyth being on the run and in the company of Haggarty and others in the UVF around May 1994 - but it has never been proven how or when Smyth’s DNA came to be on the jacket.
Regarding Haggarty, Mr Borrelli described him as a "dangerous witness" and a man motivated by revenge.
The defence barrister also raised the issue of eyewitness accounts of the gunman, all of who spoke of a man “noticeably taller” than Smyth.
After listening to closing submissions, Mr Justice O’Hara said: “I will now consider my judgement which will be given before Easter.”