Man blames co-accused for stabbing victim

ONE of the men on trial for murder in the Mahon area of Cork last year said he was not taking the blame for something he didn’t do and claimed that his co-accused was the man.

This evidence emerged at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork yesterday as a transcript of an interview with John Brett was read to the jury where he admitted punching Brian McKee but not stabbing him.

Brett said he climbed a tree and hid there for a while after the fatal incident.

Brett, aged 25, of 26A Leitrim Street, Cork, and Jason Quinlan, aged 29, of 11 Loughmahon Drive, Mahon, Cork, both deny murdering Brian McKee, 24, at Ballinure Avenue, Mahon, Cork, on August 25, 2007.

Brett told Detective Sergeant Malachy White: “I gave him two punches in the side of the head. Quinny is the man like, Quinny is the man. I am not taking the s**t for something I didn’t do.

“I didn’t do anything to make that boy bleed. I swear on my baby’s life… I wouldn’t murder a dog not to mind say a person,” said Brett.

“I gave him two slaps in the head. You want me to admit to f**king murder or something, I am not a murderer,” he said.

Brett described Quinlan as having a big broken bottle in his hand. At another stage in the interview he said a young fellow gave Quinlan a knife in the alleyway and said: “Quinny, here, here, here.”

Asked about the scene of the fatal incident he said: “There wasn’t a lot to be seen with Quinny on top, his hands were going everywhere, it looked like he was punching him everywhere, in the face, head, stomach, back, punching him, punching him everywhere.

“I saw blood everywhere. He (Quinlan) gets up and goes, ‘Oh f**k, I have blood on my hands’,” Brett said.

Early in the first interview with Brett, the day after the fatal incident, Brett said it was curiosity and a desire to intervene between Quinlan and Mr McKee that brought him to the scene.

“I went to break it up, the other fella was after getting stabbed quite a few times. I couldn’t break it, I was down between the two of them. The Brian McKee fella started shouting after being cut. Three girls were saying, ‘He’s stabbing him, he’s stabbing him’, but I didn’t because I had no knife in my hand.

“I didn’t see him being cut, he was obviously cut. By the time I ran up there was blood on Jason’s hands... I want to say one thing, I didn’t even know the boy, I had no reason to cause harm,” Brett said.

Before Brett described punching Mr McKee twice in the head to break it up, it was put to him by Det Sgt White: “You were involved in an assault on Brian McKee?”

Brett replied: “No, I definitely was not involved. If anything I tried to break it up.”

Asked if he got a knife in the alleyway, he replied: “No, you can use forensics. I tell you, I used no knife on that boy… I did not... The girls are all his friends, they are going to say I stabbed him. I stabbed nobody.”

Det Sgt White asked: “Did you assault Brian McKee in any way?” Brett said: “I gave him two digs — that was it — in to the head.”

The detective said: “You engaged in an assault on Brian McKee with a person you knew had a knife?”

Brett said: “I didn’t know he was using it, I knew he had it. Quinny was on top of him, he was doing whatever he was doing, I assaulted him (Mr McKee) with two punches, that was my part in it.”

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Carney and jury today.