Court hears of death from swelling of brain

An 18-year-old student died from swelling to the brain due to severe facial injuries he received after he was kicked in the head outside a well-known Dublin hotel, a court has heard.

The State Pathologist, Professor John Harbison, told the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Mr Brian Murphy’s facial injuries were caused by "considerable violence" being inflicted upon him.

Prof Harbison was giving evidence on day three of the trial of four youths charged with the manslaughter of Mr Murphy outside the Burlington Hotel.

He told Mr Edward Comyn SC (with Mr Brendan Grehan SC), prosecuting, that Mr Murphy’s death was also complicated by the inhalation of blood, which occurred from three cuts he received just above his upper lip.

Prof Harbison said his external facial injuries, which included a deep abrasion on the chin, cuts to his right eye-socket and a cut to his lower jaw on the left side were due to blows or kicks from a hard object, possibly a shoe or a boot.

A part of Mr Murphy’s brain had been flattened and it was bleeding and his internal injuries were not consistent with a fall but were due to an assault.

He added that when he performed the post-mortem on Mr Murphy over five hours after his death in August 2000, he also had two groups of bruises on his back and an abrasion on his leg that suggested he fell forward and struck it off a rough surface.

Andrew Frame (22), from Nutley Lane, Donnybrook, Sean Mackey (23), from South Park, Foxrock, Desmond Ryan (22), from Cunningham Road, Dalkey, all Co Dublin, and Dermot Laide (22), from Rossvale, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan have pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Murphy at Sussex Road on August 31, 2000.

The four have also denied committing violence disorder by using or threatening to use unlawful violence on the same date.

Prof Harbison told Mr Patrick Gageby SC (with Mr Luan O Braonain BL), for Mr Ryan, in cross-examination, that many of Mr Murphy’s muscles had been loosened because of the alcohol he had drunk that night but he did not appear to have drank an excessive amount.

Mr Gageby submitted there would be evidence that Mr Murphy had smoked a few joints of cannabis on the night but Prof Harbison said this would be unlikely to loosen the muscle tone and he had found no evidence of any drugs in the deceased’s body.

Prof Harbison agreed with Mr Gageby there were detectable injuries to Mr Murphy’s head, but pathologically it was difficult to prove what killed him because there was no footprint or sole print on his head.

He added that it was impossible to distinguish which facial injury caused the brain to swell but the abrasions on his face, while severe to the extent that they contributed to his death, did not suggest that he was beaten "black and blue".

Paul Cahill, a student who witnessed the fight after leaving Club Anabel’s in the Burlington Hotel, told Mr Comyn that he returned to the scene after walking up the street to look for a ‘chipper’ and saw a youth in a wine-coloured t-shirt swinging punches at a taller youth.

Mr Cahill said the youth in the wine-coloured t-shirt appeared to be getting the upper hand but then another youth ran in and punched him on the left side of his face. At that point, he said: "the whole place erupted and fighting broke out all over the place".

He said people starting rushing into different fights and there were about five or six people surrounding the youth in the wine-coloured t-shirt. Eventually he fell over and they began to kick him in the head quite hard.

Mr Cahill said he couldn’t describe any of the people who were kicking him but the youth who had punched him on the left side of the face was wearing the same ‘Diesel’ jumper as himself, except a different colour, and he was in the group who were kicking him.

When Mr Cahill was shown a blue ‘Diesel’ jumper with a grey trim he said it was the same as the one he saw that night.

Mr Cahill said he stood back a bit when the fight erupted and after about two minutes a number of people came in and broke it up. He then saw about three people carry the youth in the wine t-shirt across the road and lay him down on the ground.

He told Mr John Edwards SC (with Mr Micheal O’Higgins BL), for Mr Laide, in cross-examination, that the ‘Diesel’ jumper he was wearing that night was navy with a grey trim.

When he was shown the exhibit again, Mr Edwards informed him that he described it in his statement as being dark grey with a beige trim. Mr Cahill said that by saying ‘the upper hand’ he meant the youth in the t-shirt was landing punches to the other person’s face.

Mr Edwards further submitted that in his statement Mr Cahill also said the youth in the ‘Diesel’ jumper started fighting with another youth at the entrance to the car park of the Burlington Hotel after he had punched the youth in the wine t-shirt.

Mr Cahill admitted he may have been mistaken that he was one of the youths who were part of the group kicking the person in the wine-t-shirt while he lay on the ground.

The trial continues before Judge Michael White and a jury of eight men and four women.