Victim ‘punched’ in back: Accused

Martin Ollo, the 19-year-old student accused of conspiring to assault teenager Stephen Lyne in June 2009 told how Shane Regan had “punched” Mr Lyne in the back.

The three teenagers had gone to a laneway off Ross Road in Killarney to smoke a joint, Mr Ollo told gardaí.

He also spoke of his fear of being killed by Regan if the latter had found out he had told gardaí about what happened on the night.

Mr Ollo denies two counts of conspiring with Regan to assault Mr Lyne thereby causing him harm. The prosecution told the jury Mr Regan, who died last year in an unrelated incident, stabbed Mr Lyne in the back.

A series of interviews with gardaí in the days after the killing were put before the jury of six men and six women yesterday by prosecution at the Circuit Criminal Court in Tralee.

In one, Mr Ollo said he, Mr Regan and Mr Lyne went to smoke a joint in Scrahan Mews. When he sat down to roll a joint, Mr Regan punched Mr Lyne in the lower back, and may have had something in his hand, said Mr Ollo.

Looking back, after he found out about Stephen being stabbed, he believed it was at this point Mr Regan stabbed Mr Lyne, he said.

The trial continues, presided over by Judge Carroll Moran.