Victim’s last words ‘were plea for his life’

The last words of a man being beaten to death were a plea to his attacker to stop hitting him, a court has heard.

Patrick Keating, 49, stamped on the chest and head of Joe O’Brien, 60, kicked him, and hit him with a dumbbell during the attack after 10pm on Apr 23, 2012, in Waterford City, the prosecution alleged on the opening day of a murder trial.

The accused, formerly of Moyne House, Grattan Quay, Waterford, denies the charge of murder.