Ballymun murder trial witness 'heard screaming'

A prosecution witness has told a murder trial he heard screaming at around 3am on the morning his neighbour was stabbed to death.

Mr George Stringer was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of Jacqui Noble and Paul Hopkins who are each accused of murdering Ms Noble’s partner, Derek Benson. They deny the charge.

Mr Stringer told the Central Criminal Court today that he saw Mr Benson at around 9.05pm the previous evening.

Questioned by Tom O’Connell SC prosecuting as to how Mr Benson appeared, he replied he seemed "fine".

The witness, who shared the same four-storey block of flats as the deceased man, told the court he awoke at 3am to the sound of somebody screaming. He thought it came from upstairs. When he looked out his window he saw an ambulance, fire brigade and police.

The state claims that the murder of Derek Benson in May 2000 was a contract killing precipitated by Mr Benson's demands for part of an inheritance due to his partner Jacqui Nobel.

It is alleged that Ms Noble, a mother of one from Ballymun, contracted co-accused Mr Paul Hopkins for £3,000-5,000 to murder Mr Benson.

The prosecution claims that she paid him £200 "up front", the balance to be paid after the murder. At the time of the killing, he as working as a doorman in a public house in Drumcondra.

The jury heard that Derek Benson suffered 25 stab wounds inflicted with a sword and 60 "cuts or incised wounds".

In seven stab wounds to the trunk, the sword went through the body completely "from back to front and front to back".

Derek Benson was a habitual drug user. He was, according to the state "a man of violent disposition" who, over the years behaved violently towards Jacqui Noble.

Jacqui Noble (aged 38) of Knowth Court, Ballymun, Dublin and Paul Hopkins (aged 24) Sillogue Road, Ballymun have both pleaded not guilty to the murder of Derek Benson (aged 33) at Sandy Hill Avenue Ballymun on May 13, 2000.

The trial before Mr Justice Henry Abbott continues.