‘Only animal could stab man 11 times’

THE Corkman who denies murdering a 25-year-old English man told detectives that only an animal or a scumbag would have stabbed him 11 times.

Timothy O’Driscoll, aged 34, from St Rita’s Avenue, Gurranabraher, denies a charge of murdering Lee McCarthy, 25, on April 17 last year at 12 St Rita’s Avenue.

Evidence was given of interviews the defendant gave to gardaí after the investigation into Mr McCarthy’s killing commenced.

“I would not have called the guards if I was going to kill someone, I would have put him in Seán’s (his brother’s) car and dumped him somewhere and it would not have come back to me,” O’Driscoll stated.

He denied knowing Mr McCarthy.

He admitted grabbing Mr McCarthy around the neck with all his strength. The accused was told that the deceased had 11 stab wounds, some of them to his arms, indicating efforts to defend himself. O’Dris-coll said: “Only an animal could do a thing like that.”

He said he did not want to see the knife and told detectives: “This is going to fuck up my life because I am going to remember this in years to come.”

Asked again about the 11 stab wounds, the accused replied: “For a person to do that he must be an animal or a scumbag.”

O’Driscoll continued: “I was stabbed three times, why would I stab another human being knowing what I have been through? I just thought I digged the shit out of him.

“I threw him in the shed to make sure he could not get out. I was panicking, I didn’t know what to do. I panicked.”

Dr Mehboob Kukaswadia said O’Driscoll has an underlying psychiatric problem, post-traumatic stress disorder and needs anger management.

Sergeant Dave O’Regan (retired) said he found drag marks at the back of O’Driscoll’s house leading to a shed.

“It appeared as if somebody or something heavily bloodstained was dragged down that area,” he said.

He showed the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork the knife found under Mr McCarthy’s body, which was found in the shed.

“It is heavily bloodstained knife, the blade is about nine inches long, the blade of the knife has come into contact with some object causing it to be bent.”

The trial continues.