Murder trial accused told victim: ‘Get up and fight’

The jury in the trial of a man accused of murdering a 60-year-old man in a “vicious, one-sided, sustained attack” is expected to retire today to consider its verdict.

Patrick Keating, aged 49, of Moyne House, Grattan Quay, Waterford, denies the murder of Joe O’Brien at 1 Scotch Quay House, William St, Waterford, last year. Judge Patrick McCarthy began his charge to the jury at the Central Criminal Court, sitting in Waterford, yesterday and will resume this morning.

The prosecution alleges that Pat Keating kicked Mr O’Brien in the head and body, stamped on his head and chest, punched him and hit him on the head with a dumbbell weight in a “vicious and ferocious” attack after an argument broke out in a friend’s apartment on the night of Apr 23, 2012.