Grandad helped carry out Gary Carey shooting after mobster ‘fell foul' of drugs gang
Patrick 'Fishy' Fitzgerald (48) bought, fuelled up and later burnt out a getaway car used by the hit team
A Dublin grandfather and lifelong criminal helped carry out the failed murder of Gary Carey after the target had 'fallen foul' of an international drugs gang.
Patrick 'Fishy' Fitzgerald (48), of Glenties Park in Finglas, bought, fuelled up and later burnt out a getaway car used by the hit team that fired 10 shots at Carey outside a Ballyfermot home almost four years ago.
The Central Criminal Court heard that the victim was targeted by a west Dublin gang involved in serious crimes 'up to and including murder' and died after a separate shooting the following year.
His daughters today recalled the trauma of seeing the 'strongest man in the world' being carried away by first responders after the shooting and described how their lives have since been filled with 'fear and horror'.
Earlier, prosecution counsel Ronan Kennedy SC took Detective Sergeant Ronan McDermott through the facts of the case.
The court was told that at 7.30pm on November 17, 2021, Gary Carey (41) was and exiting a driveway on Ballyfermot Crescent in his Volkswagen Passat when his path was blocked by a black 07-D Opel Zafira carrying two occupants.
Ten shots were fired at Carey through the windscreen of the car, striking him twice in the torso.
He fled through a house and over the rear wall, hiding out in another garden until emergency services arrived.
Patrick Fitzgerald
He was rushed to hospital where one bullet was removed but another remained lodged in his torso because it was deemed too high risk to remove.
He spent over a month in hospital being treated for 'significant internal damage' and fled to Spain after being discharged.
The court was told that shortly after he returned home from Spain he was shot in June 2022 in a separate incident and passed away on August 5.
The Opel Zafira was burnt out nearby on Ballyfermot Parade with two handguns recovered inside while a secondary getaway car, a gold 07-D Toyota Avensis, brought the hit team from the scene and was burnt out on Willow Park Crescent in Ballymun that night.
Patrick 'Fishy' Fitzgerald and deceased drug lord Gary 'the Canary' Carey
News in 90 Seconds - May 27th
Det Sgt McDermott agreed that a 'painstaking investigation' was carried out involving the taking of witness statements and harvesting CCTV footage around the city.
Gardaí established that in the days before the shooting the Opel Zafira was bought for €750 while the Toyota Avensis was sourced for €800.
Gardaí connected Fitzgerald to the purchases through a phone used by him and he was also captured on CCTV driving the cars around Finglas in the week leading up to the shooting.
Mr Kennedy also said the defendant was linked to a third car, a blue Audi A4, which had been bought for €500 exactly a month before the murder bid.
This car was used when meeting with the legitimate sellers of the getaway cars and was described as the 'logistics vehicle used to execute the planning'.
Gary Carey
The court was also told that Fitzgerald fuelled up the Toyota Avensis the day before the gun attack and burnt it out within three hours of the shooting.
Det Sgt McDermott agreed that the defendant was 'engaged in this operation by an organised criminal group based in the Ballyfermot and Clondalkin areas' which is involved in the large-scale importation of drugs both nationally and internationally as well as 'firearms offence up to and including murder'.
He also said that Carey was a person known to gardaí who had 'fallen foul' of this criminal gang.
The court was told Fitzgerald has 72 previous convictions dating to 1999 including aggravated burglary, false imprisonment, assault, theft and public order.
He is currently serving a seven-and-a-half-year sentence over a home invasion in south Dublin that he carried out while on bail for the attempted murder charge.
Bernard Condon SC, defending, said his client had struggled with alcohol and drugs in his 20s and 30s but had rehabilitated over a decade ago.
Mr Condon said a 'family issue' in 2020 caused 'some difficulty in his life' and resulted in him relapsing. He said his client is also a father of four children as well as a grandfather.
In her victim impact statement, Carey's partner Nicola Doonan said: 'We had to move from our family home with our son and live separate lives for our own safety.'
In a joint victim impact statement, Carey's daughters said their family had been left devastated ever since 'selfish people' chose to hurt their dad.
They recalled the trauma of witnessing 'our dad, the strongest man in the world, being carried by police' and being unable to reach him.
The court was told their lives now hold 'pain, fear and trauma' having once been full of 'joy, love, security and protection'.
They added that they would carry anger, fear and horror for the rest of their lives, and that they hoped the justice system would recognise this.
Ms Justice Eileen Creedon said she would sentence the accused in July and remanded him in custody. He faces a maximum sentence of 15 years' imprisonment.
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