Accused admits giving two belts on night of melee

One of the accused in the Brian Murphy manslaughter trial told gardaí he gave him "two good belts" on the night he was kicked to death outside the Burlington Hotel.

Dermot Laide made a statement on September 1, 2000, the day after Mr Murphy died, and made a further memo on September 26 when he told Detective Garda Thomas Rock he had given the deceased "two good belts" and that he had said that in his statement.

He declined to say anything else or to sign that memo, the jury at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court was told.

Detective Sergeant JJ Keane earlier read out to the court the statement he had taken from Dermot Laide on September 1 in the presence of his father Brian Laide and Detective Inspector Declan Coburn.

Mr Laide told gardaí he hadn't been let into Club Anabel's because his friend, Michael Carroll, had been refused entry for not being over 19 and he, the accused, was guilty by association.

He stayed outside for the night with two others, Shane Fallon and David Sherlock, and remembered at some point Sean Mackey, another accused, being thrown out of the club.

Another friend, Shane Lonergan, was also thrown out and Mr Laide said Mr Mackey looked like he had too much to drink.

Mr Laide remembered being outside the front gate of the hotel when all the crowds were coming out because he was waiting for his friend, Alan Dalton, whose house he was staying in that night.

He said that at one point a group of about six or seven began to slag Andrew Frame, who is also on trial, and he was being shoved in an aggressive manner.

Mr Mackey then walked into the middle of this group and had a verbal altercation with "a guy in a red shirt", whom the jury have heard since the outset was Brian Murphy.

Mr Laide said this youth then pushed Mr Mackey in the face with an open hand and there was some more pushing and shoving.

Someone backed into Mr Laide and he said to him: "What are you starting fights for? I hate fighting".

He was told there would no fight.

He remembered two of them punching Andrew Frame and Sean Mackey. He went to Mr Frame's assistance because it looked like he was getting badly beaten.

He kicked someone in the shin and threw a punch but he didn't think it connected. He then punched someone in the head.

Mr Laide said the youth in the red top then threw a punch at him and he kicked him once in the calf area.

This person then backed off and Mr Laide said he then continued fighting with the other youth. At this point, about 10 or 12 people joined in the fighting and he remembered the "guy in the red top" stumbling towards him.

Mr Laide said he was hit from behind and one of his contact lenses fell out. He was then pulled out of the melee and remembered about three or four people punching "the guy in the red top."

The next thing he saw was the youth in red lying on the ground holding his back with his arm.

Two people then carried the youth across the road and put him lying up against a wall.

He said he went over twice to see if he was OK and Andrew Frame was also there. A number of people were asking him how it had happened.

Mr Laide and Mr Frame then went back to the Burlington Hotel side of the road and someone came over and punched Mr Frame twice in the head.

Mr Laide then punched this person in the teeth and cut his hand before the two were then separated.

Andrew Frame, aged 22, from Nutley Lane, Donnybrook, Sean Mackey, aged 23, from South Park, Foxrock, Desmond Ryan, aged 22, from Cunningham Road, Dalkey, all Co Dublin, and Dermot Laide, aged 22, from Rossvale, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan have pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of 18-year-old Mr Murphy at Sussex Road on August 31, 2000.

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

Det Sgt Keane said that when Dermot Laide was in Donnybrook garda station he also handed over all the clothes and footwear he was wearing on the night and a blood sample was taken.

The gardaí also took a number of pictures of the cut on his hand. He was charged with offences surrounding the death of Brian Murphy on May 17, 2001.

Former garda inspector Joseph Harte said he travelled to Mr Laide's home in Monaghan on September 28, 2000, and conducted a search in the absence of any member of the Laide family.

They seized a pair of shoes that had a metal bar across the front from a holdall bag in the kitchen because a witness had said he had seen black shoes with a buckle or metal bar being involved in the kicking of Brian Murphy.

Det Insp Harte denied in cross-examination by Mr John Edwards SC, for Mr Laide, that the trip to Monaghan was a "fishing expedition" in search of such a pair of shoes and said he was aware that Mr Laide had handed over the black shoes that his friend, Alan Dalton, had lent him on the night Brian Murphy died.

The final eyewitness to the incident, Mr Peter Rock, earlier told the court that when Brian Murphy was lying up against the wall he questioned one of the youths who was standing near the unconscious man if he had thrown any punches.

This person ignored him but after persistent questioning he said he was defending himself. Mr Rock said this person was about six foot tall with light brown hair and was wearing a light-coloured T-shirt on the night.

When he was shown the grey, striped t-shirt that Andrew Frame was wearing on the night he said it was very similar.

Mr Rock added that the person he was questioning seem to be scared of him and was backing away.

The trial will continue in legal argument before Judge Michael White in the absence of the jury until Thursday.