Victim was kicked in the head, medic tells murder trial

A paramedic has told the trial of a 40-year-old, who admits killing a Polish man in Clare last year but denies murdering him, that he saw the deceased being kicked in the head.

Michael Maughan, of Stone Court, Ennis, pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Piotr Nowakowski, aged 31, at Sandfield Mews, Ennis, on July 23, 2013.

The Central Criminal Court was told the man-slaughter plea was not acceptable to the prosecution. The accused has also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Declan O’Dea at the same address on the same date.

Paramedic Ralph O’Neill told the court he got a call at 1am to go to a stabbing incident in the Sandfield complex. He arrived at 1.05am and Macjej Predys, who was living there, came out to meet him.

He told Denis Vaughan Buckley, for the State, that Mr Predys, who he had met on previous occasions, said someone had been stabbed.

Mr O’Neill said there were several men inside and the patient was lying on the floor. He testified that he had a pulse and was breathing but was completely unresponsive.

Mr O’Neill said he noticed two wounds to the upper body and two wounds to the head.

He said Mr Predys and the accused’s brother, Darren Maughan, were holding the patient and that a “third man” was just sitting on a chair, laughing.

One of the men asked: “Is he dead?” and the ‘third man’ jumped up and said “he’s not dead” before kicking the injured party in the head several times.

The witness said they told the ‘third man’ to “stop, sit down, stop”.

The trial continues.