Massereene accused: I am dying from cystic fibrosis
A man accused of murdering two soldiers has told a court that he is dying from cystic fibrosis.
Doctors advised Brian Shivers in 2008 that he had five or six years to live because of the medical condition involving his lungs.
Shivers and Colin Duffy deny the murder of Sappers Mark Quinsey and Patrick Azimkar, who were shot outside their Army base in Antrim.
Shivers said: “I knew myself that my life would have been short.”
He described the moment doctors told him the prognosis.
“It was very hard-hitting,” he added.
Shivers said he attended several meetings of Irish republican socialist organisation éirígí but never joined the organisation. “I did not feel inspired politically,” he said.
Eirigi member Dominic McGlinchey had introduced him to the group, which the accused said was non-violent. Shivers insisted his main interest was in hearing about the Irish republican hunger strikes and that he opposed violence. “I had no hand and no part (in the shooting), I don’t agree with murder,” Shivers said. “I support Sinn Fein, I support the peace process.”
He said there had been a running joke between himself and McGlinchey about his friend taking his matches from the house and the defendant said he had no idea how his DNA could have ended up on matches found in the partially burned getaway car. He had no explanation for forensic material discovered on a mobile phone in the Vauxhall Cavalier.
He said on the day of the attack he had eaten breakfast at a cafe in Magherafelt before watching Manchester United play. He had been intending to attend a party in Belfast, went to Mass and ate a Chinese takeaway in the nearby town of Toome, before changing his mind.
The accused said he instead travelled to his brother’s house in Toome, but he was not at home and after waiting a while returned to his own home and ordered his partner a Chinese meal. He did not use his mobile phone for several hours on the night, including the period of the shooting, but made a series of calls the next day.
Prosecution barrister Terence Mooney QC told Shivers: “You were involved in this attack along with your friend Dominic McGlinchey. I suggest you have indicated your support by the attendance at meetings of an organisation that can only be described as at the dissident side of republicanism.
“You have manipulated your fiancée to try and concoct a story.”
Shivers denied this.
Earlier, the court heard from Ohio professor Dan Krane, who expressed concern about the small size of the sample used in the trial of Duffy.
Professor Krane said: “What it establishes is that his DNA may be associated with the glove and it may be associated with the belt buckle of the car. The presence of a DNA profile, per se, does not say anything about the timeframe or the circumstances under which the DNA came to be there.
“The DNA tests themselves cannot answer that type of question.”
Professor Krane told Belfast Crown Court sitting in Antrim that the sample which Duffy gave came from a mixture of DNA from two or more people, meaning there was a possibility that somebody other than Duffy came into contact with the glove.
The prosecution barrister, who will begin his summing up of the case today, said the witness had opposed efforts to advance the use of DNA analysis. “Throughout your career in giving evidence in forensic cases you have tried to build up impediments to the advance of DNA being used in court,” said Mr Mooney.
Professor Krane disagreed.
