A man who stabbed a young Dublin computer analyst said he was handed a knife by his friend as he left a party and intended only to defend himself and “put frighteners” on a couple of young men waiting outside for him, a murder trial heard today.

A 21-year-old man on trial for murder told one of his friends that he had stabbed another man as they left a house party in the early hours of the morning, a murder trial jury heard today.