Court hears of Fatima Mansions murder accused's remorse

A jury was today shown interview videos of a suspect crying, shaking and apologising on the day he was arrested for murder in late 2002. The tapes were played for the Central Criminal Court during the trial of Anthony Burke (aged 35), of Clancarty Road, Donnycarney, Dublin.

Mr Burke has pleaded not guilty to murdering Joseph Sutcliffe (aged 32) on October 13, 200,2 in the Fatima Mansions flat complex, Rialto, Dublin.

Mr Burke’s head was bent and in his hands throughout the interviews, which took place in Kevin Street Garda Station on October 21, 2002. He visibly shook throughout. At one stage he was asked if he was cold, and replied: "No. I’m just frightened. That’s all."

When asked by detectives what the row in Fatima Mansions was about, he said: "I don’t know. I haven’t a clue. I thought it was just a fight."

He admitted he did not know the deceased and that he had intervened in a fight between his friend, Anthony Cahill, and Mr Sutcliffe. When Mr Burke hit the father-of-three, the deceased warned him: "You’re going to get it. You’re getting it off me."

After this row in one of the flats, the accused returned to a friend’s garden in the complex and continued drinking and chatting to her. A man, now believed to be Seán Buckley, came up to him, warning him to "watch it" and that he was going to be done for hitting Mr Sutcliffe earlier.

Mr Burke told the detectives that Mr Buckley handed a knife to his friend, Ellen Cahill. "I asked Ellen for it. When I seen the knife, I got afraid. I thought it was for me. I held it in my right hand. He (Mr Buckley) just walked off," he explained.

The accused said he was still standing there when he heard more shouting. "I looked over and saw Anto fighting in the little square in front of the flats". Mr Burke said he went over to break up the fight between Mr Cahill and a man in a hoodie.

"It was then I saw that the man in the hoodie was the same man I hit earlier and who threatened me. I just turned around and stuck him with the knife I had in my hand."

Afterwards, Mr Burke said, he turned around, dropped the knife and walked away. Mr Sutcliffe, he said, ran.

"I couldn’t believe what I was after doing," remarked the suspect. "I just wanted to frighten him so he wouldn’t come near me…He was going to attack me. I have to live with this," he added. "I didn’t mean to stick him bad. I just meant to nick him, so he’d go home and leave me alone."

When asked if, as he was leaving the complex, he told a number of witnesses: "You don’t know me. You didn’t see me. I wasn’t here," Mr Burke replied that he honestly could not recall saying that. He said it was his older brother, Jimmy, who told him to go to the gardaí the following day.

The only other person he had told about the events of the previous weekend was his father.

"I had to tell my Da what I had done, because if you had turned up this morning, he’d have had a heart attack." Mr Burke spoke of how the whole affair was going to kill his father, for whom he cared full-time.

During one of the interviews Mr Burke’s sister, Veronica, arrived at the station to visit him. He broke down and wept out loud on hearing this.

"I didn’t mean it at all," he cried. Also that afternoon, a doctor took a blood specimen from the suspect and treated him for a stomach problem he complained of having since the incident.

When asked by detectives how he was, he replied: "Very down. I’ve been warped all week. I just feel like doing myself in with it. I’m not sure I can handle this at all. Going to prison and all. I won’t be able to handle it in there," he continued. "I’m really sorry. I’m really sorry about this."

Earlier, the garda in charge of the murder investigation admitted to the court that the accused seemed genuinely remorseful on the day he was arrested.

Detective Inspector Gabriel O’Gara recalled that "he became upset during the interview…He was crying," adding that the accused was especially emotional when he first admitted to stabbing Mr Sutcliffe.

The trial before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury of five men and seven women continues tomorrow.