Witness accused of being a liar

A "gulf between reality and unreality" has been opened during the trial of a homeless man accused of murder, a defence counsel told a jury at the Central Criminal Court today.

Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC was making his closing speech at the trial of 52 year-old William Carroll, of no fixed address. Mr Carroll denies the murder of Thomas Harte (aged 40), of Allen's Square, Ballymacthomas, Cork, in a derelict house on Leitrim Street, in the city, between May 19-20, 1997.

Mr O'Carroll called into question the credibility of the two main prosecution witnesses, suggesting one of them was an accomplice in the crime.

"You'll see it's an absurdity; the idea that Mr Michael Flynn is a credible witness is absurd beyond description," he told the jury. Mr Flynn gave evidence for three days during the trial in which he detailed Mr Carroll's involvement in the attack on Mr Harte.

He described Mr Flynn as "cunning ... with a fertile imagination" and said he had lied to the court. Mr O'Carroll added that forensic evidence did not support his testimony or that of a second witness, Mr Paddy Crowley. There was no blood found on the shoes of the accused man, despite Mr Crowley's

claim that the accused admitted to "dancing" on the deceased, he said.

"It's dangerous to convict on the evidence of someone like Michael Flynn," he warned the jury.

Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC for the prosecution urged the jury to convict the accused if they were satisfied that the accused was involved in the killing. "The evidence of the accused himself has strengthened the prosecution case," he said.

The prosecution allege that Mr Carroll took part in the serious assault on Mr Harte and that he also encouraged his nephew to beat him, by claiming that Mr Harte was responsible for the death of his nephew's father. "If you are satisfied the accused was present and encouraging and urging his nephew to seriously assault the deceased ... that in itself would be sufficient to convict the accused," he said.

Mr Justice Carney will charge the jury this afternoon before they begin their deliberations tomorrow.