Sligo accused says he 'lost control'

A man accused of stabbing his drinking friend to death in a house in Sligo told a murder trial jury today that he "lost control" after the man threatened to hurt him.

Patrick McGrath told the Central Criminal Court in Dublin: "I went into a complete panic. Between terror and panic and shock I lost control."

Mr McGrath (aged 60), a native of Galway city, with an address at Holborn St, Sligo, denies the murder of Mr James Murphy (aged 50) at Holborn St on March 22, 2002.

Mr McGrath told his counsel, Mr Anthony Sammon SC, that he had befriended Mr Murphy, whom he knew as "Andy", at a hostel in Wexford when they both lived there.

Mr McGrath said that he met Mr Murphy again at a night shelter in Sligo and they moved into separate flats in Holborn St. He said that he and Mr Murphy used to drink together.

Mr McGrath said that he noticed verbal aggression from Andy about a fortnight before the death and he said that Andy used to shout up at his bedsit from the garden, asking him to come down to his flat for a drink.

On March 22, 2002 he had drunk fortified wine and he took at least three and possibly six pills, which he was prescribed to help him with alcohol.

He said he went out and bought a bottle of fortified wine. When he returned to his bedsit, Andy followed him in and sat on a chair. Mr McGrath said Andy asked him to get him a drink and he said: "It's in the bag. Get it yourself."

"I said to him: `Look, Andy, I'm in my own flat. If you take exception to my behaviour, why don't you f.**k off?'" he said.

Mr McGrath said that Andy then left and he went out to a local takeaway and bought two pies and a sandwich and returned to the house.

He said he saw Andy coming out of his bedsit, jumping up and down and saying he was going to hurt him and adding: "Nobody talks to me like that."

Mr McGrath said that he calmed Andy down, went into the bedsit and sat on the bed. He said that Andy disappeared from view and went downstairs. He sais he then heard Andy screaming and shouting.

"I just felt trapped in the house. I just panicked completely. I must have seen the knife on the coffee table and I grabbed it. I ran out the door. I just lost complete control. I didn't know if he was going to kill me. The shock just hit me," he added.

Mr McGrath said that Mr Murphy had told him he was connected to the IRA and he believed he had access to a gun.

"I went into a complete panic. We got into a bit of a tussle near the communal kitchen. I think I said: 'Are you threatening me?' and we got into a bit of a tussle and I must have stabbed him. I think I hit him once with the knife. He walked away from me then," he said.

Cross examined by prosecuting counsel, Mr Edward Comyn SC, Mr McGrath said he had no reason to disbelieve Mr Murphy when he said he was connected to the IRA.

"He had frightened me so much I went into a panic. He was dangerous and I was in a dangerous position," he said.

Mr McGrath denied a suggestion by Mr Comyn that he had become fed up and bored with Mr Murphy and had lost his temper and had decided to "teach him a lesson".

The jury of eight women and four men will hear closing submissions when the trial, before Mr Justice Carney, resumes on Monday.