Bloodstains found at murder scene, court hears

There were two large bloodstains on the ground and there was blood splattering on aluminium shutters at the scene of a fistfight that ended with one man being stabbed to death, a jury has heard.

Christopher O'Callaghan (21), of O'Malley Park, Southill, Limerick has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael Fitzpatrick (19) of Yeats Avenue, Kincora Park, Southill outside the Olympic Arms pub on Roxboro Road on the night of 25 June 1999.

Michael Fitzpatrick died in Limerick Regional Hospital while surgeons were trying to stem the blood- flow from eight stab wounds to his trunk.

The prosecution alleges that Christopher O'Callaghan stabbed Fitzpatrick during a fight outside the Olympic Arms at around 11:40pm on 25 June 1999.

Prosecution witnesses have alleged that Fitzpatrick staggered towards them during the fight and then collapsed to the ground.

The jury has heard that no witness to the fight saw a knife or any other weapon being used.

No weapon was found at the scene.

One eyewitness, William Buckley, alleged that he saw the accused holding a shiny silver object in his right hand, but in cross-examination, he accepted that it could have been the accused man's bracelet.

In evidence to the Central Criminal Court trial today, Detective Sergeant William Brennan of the Garda ballistics section told prosecution lawyer Mr PJ McCarthy SC that there were blood splatters on aluminium shutters outside 'the old bank', a premises situated next to the pub.

A number of witnesses have placed the accused and deceased in and around the area of the shutters at the time of the fight. Both shutters had bloodstains on them that were "consistent with arterial spurting", Det Sgt Brennan said.

Two further distinct areas of staining on the walkway in front of the shutters and outside the pub were consistent with blood oozing or flowing from the body, and not with arterial spurting, he said.

The garda also noted a small area of blood staining consistent with arterial spurting on the lower part of a wall.

Cross-examined by Mr Brendan Nix SC he agreed that it was possible that the blood spurting on the wall near the ground could have occurred if someone had stabbed the deceased as he lay on the ground.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice O'Higgins and a jury.