A court has heard that the alleged victim in Diarmuid Phelan’s murder trial had a previous conviction for kicking a Garda in the head.

Today, Sergeant Simon Whelan was asked about two interactions he had with Keith Conlon in 2018 - four-years before the shooting.

In relation to the first occasion, Sergeant Whelan said he observed Mr Conlon leaving a halting site near Mr Phelan’s farm in a red van.

The following month, he said he saw him in a car, which he was told was taking him and others to their horses in a field beyond the halting site.

The jury also heard how in January 2010, Mr Conlon kicked a Garda in the head as he was being arrested as part of a callout to a suspected burglary.

The jury was told he became “extremely violent” and had to be restrained.

Following his arrest after the shooting in 2022, another Garda witness told the jury Mr Phelan asked if the man he shot was a Traveller.

Mr Phelan, who is a Professor of Law at Trinity College Dublin, denies murdering Keith Conlon, claiming he was shot accidentally in an act of self defence.

Main image: Split of Diarmuid Phelan and the Criminal Courts of Justice.