Man says he is 'not a murderer'

A man arrested in connection with the murder of a profoundly deaf young man began to cry while telling gardai he was "not a murderer", a garda witness has told the Central Criminal Court today.

Det Sgt Dominic Hayes of the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation said he questioned the accused, William Roche, at Henry Street Station, Limerick, the day after John Carroll's body was found in an isolated boreen near Ballinahinch, Co Tipperary.

Reading from a memo of an interview, the Det Sgt told the jury that the accused had said: "I'm not a murderer. I've been working since I was 15 years of age."

He said the accused admitted kicking Mr Carroll in the face and punching him in the back of another man's car.

The three had earlier been drinking in a local pub. An argument erupted when the second man, not before the court, demanded €38 from Mr Carroll when he asked if he could stay overnight in a house belonging to Anne Marie Fitgerald, William Roche's girlfriend's sister.

The accused allegedly told gardai that his girlfriend, Bernadette Fitzgerald, stepped in between them and one of them hit her on the nose. "When I looked around I saw [the second man] hitting John Carroll. He was gasping for air."

The accused told gardai that he brought Mr Carroll into Anne Marie Fitzgerald's house. He laid him on a couch but then told the second man he should be taken to hospital.

On the way to Limerick Regional Hospital, the second man, who was driving, turned off the main road and drove up a lonely country lane, according to the interview notes. The accused told gardai that he and the second man took Mr Carroll from the car.

Det Sgt Hayes told the jury that when he questioned Mr Roche about the "iron bar" used to kill Mr Carroll, the accused replied that the second man got it from the boot of his car. "I've told you what happened. [The second man] did him."

The witness told the jury that Mr Roche had expressed remorse over what happened and said: "It was the spur of the moment."

Cross-examined by the defence, Det Sgt Hayes said it was only when gardai asked him to tell the truth that Mr Roche began to cry. He composed himself and "calmly went through the events leading to the murder of Mr Carroll," Det Sgt Hayes told the court.

He had "no problem recalling the events of that night" the witness added.

William Roche (aged 23), with an address at Millstream, Killaloe Co Clare, denies the murder of John Carroll (aged 21), of Cappaghmore, Co Limerick on December 4, 1998 at Garraun, Ballinahinch, Newport, Co Tipperary.

The trial continues.