Accused was 'reckless' but not a murderer, court hears

An apprentice mechanic on the Naval ship LE Eithne was "foolish", "stupid", even "reckless" to put a crewmate on a guardrail from where he went overboard, but he was not a murderer, a defence counsel told a jury today.

The defence counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan BL said the actions of the accused man were those of a 19-year-old with 10 pints on board, rather than those of a sober, experienced seaman.