The trial was to stay in Cork and as with all criminal cases it began with an opening statement from the prosecution. When it was announced that Don would be facing a single charge of possession of ammunition the packed rows of media immediately began to thin: this was not the trial they had been told to expect. Most of the first two days were taken up by statements by An Garda Siochana, starting off with a very brief statement by Detective Chief Superintendent Tony Quilter and legal argument as Tom Creed looked to have the charge struck out. But Judge Con Murphy was known to be of the opinion that it was always best to leave a jury to decide and the trial was set to continue for another four days.

After Garda officers and a firearms expert had given evidence it was the turn of Don’s next door neighbour who had found the two bank notes in his garden and then, in a surprising move, Don’s daughter Siobhan was called as a witness for the prosecution. She had been notified of this before the trial but couldn’t think how or why she could give evidence against her father. Siobhan had gone to a station at the request of the guards for an interview back in 2005 although she hadn’t been living in Passage West when her father had been arrested. The prosecution now produced a typed transcript of her signed statement in which she stated that Freddie Black (the senior IRA man) had been a regular caller to the house she had shared with her father before leaving for university. She told the prosecutor that there had to have been a mistake because that was not true and she would never have said any such thing. The case was adjourned leaving the defence team perplexed and Don with a dilemma to wrestle with. The following day he would have to make one of the most difficult decisions of his life.