Murder accused hit victim

One of seven Dubliners charged with murdering a man who was beaten to death said he had hit him because the deceased had pulled a knife on him and stolen his sister’s phone.

A jury in their Central Criminal Court trial was yesterday hearing evidence of garda interviews conducted with David Burke, aged 28, with a current address at Beechpark, Collinstown, Co Westmeath, who said he had tried to stop others assaulting the deceased.

Dale Creighton was assaulted on New Year’s Day, 2014, at the footbridge over the Tallaght bypass between Saint Dominic’s Rd and Greenhills Rd. The 20-year-old died in hospital the following day.

A woman and six men, who are in their 20s and from Tallaght, have all pleaded not guilty to murder.

Each also initially pleaded not guilty to violent disorder at the footbridge. However, one, Jason Beresford, later pleaded guilty to the violent disorder charge.

Garda Sinéad McCormack testified that she arrested Mr Burke in Tallaght on the evening of January 2 that year. He was interviewed a number of times at Rathfarnham Garda Station.

He said he was on his way home from a club when he saw a number of men running around a corner. He said his sister ran around the corner, screaming that they had her phone.

“I chased one of them,” he said. “He pulled a knife on me so I backed off.” He said other people were chasing him too and he later saw commotion on the bridge.

“They had him held so he couldn’t go anywhere.”

He said more people arrived, but he found out that the man he had chased did not have the phone.

“I legged it out of there. I didn’t want anything to do with it,” he said, denying in the early interviews that he had hit the deceased.

“They were all jumping in there to get at it,” he said. “I was saying to stop.”

He said nobody apart from Mr Creighton had a weapon.

He was then shown CCTV footage of the assault and he identified himself holding a steel rod or pole.

“I threw that little steel yoke I had off the bridge at him,” he said. “The only reason I had it going onto the bridge was to protect myself.”

“Did you assault him there?” he was asked at one point.

“Yeah, I gave him a dig or two,” he replied.

“I hit him a dig for pulling a knife on me and robbing my sister’s bag,” he said later.

Garda McCormack agreed with his barrister, Giollaíosa Ó Lideadha SC, that he had identified himself on screen as trying to stop the assault.

The trial continues.