Witness went for a beer during deadly attack, court told

A woman who witnessed the assault on a man got up from her "ringside" seat "for a can of beer" during the attack, the trial of two Dublin men accused of murdering a man heard today at the Central Criminal Court.

Alan Keogh, aged 32, of Wellmount Green, Finglas and Gary McNevin, aged 31, of no fixed abode but with an address at Glenhill Road, Finglas, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Peter Mitchell, aged 32, of Monasterboice Road, Crumlin, at Monasterboice Road between and inclusive of October 17 and October 20, 2003.

The court has heard that Ms Wendy Howard was drinking in the company of the two accused and the dead man at a pub and later at Mr Mitchell's house on the night of the killing.

Cross-examining Ms Howard, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, for McNevin, asked: "I want to be clear on this, did you say that Gary McNevin lifted his crutch and hit Mr Mitchell several times. How did Mr Mitchell react?"

"He was in pain, you could see it on his face. He put his hands up beside his head to protect himself," Ms Howard replied.

After the beating with the crutch, Ms Howard said McNevin "got a knife" from the kitchen. She agreed with Mr MacEntee that she was "very frightened".

"Did you not try and find the male you had been kissing earlier for protection for yourself, did that not happen?" Mr MacEntee asked. "No," she said.

Ms Howard had told the court she had "kissed" the accused Keogh "just for a minute" about half an hour to an hour before the assault took place.

According to Ms Howard, McNevin told the deceased that "he'd never go down his (McNevin's) pockets again" and that "he'd be sorry for what he'd done".

She could not tell Mr MacEntee whether Keogh was angry about the dead man's alleged conduct. "I don't know," she said.

Mr MacEntee drew on previous evidence the witness had given. "You told us that during the assault you got up from your ringside seat and went into the kitchen and got a can of beer – is that true?"

"Yes," Ms Howard said.

She said she "remembered passing Peter, I think he was dead".

"Are you telling the jury that after Mr Mitchell was beaten, stabbed and tied up, that after all of those things, and you were apparently threatened, that you allegedly passed these assassins to get a can of beer? Is that true? " MacEntee asked Ms Howard.

"It probably is, I can't remember every bleeding thing," she said.

She also denied previous evidence that she and McNevin were "kissing and cuddling" in the backseat of a taxi, which picked up the accused and Ms Howard around Monasterboice Road before 5am. "I know for a fact I wasn't kissing Gary. I swear on my kids' lives," she said.

The court heard that Mitchell was found sitting on his couch with his feet tied. In a garda interview following her arrest on October 29, Ms Howard denied she knew anything about the dead man's feet being tied. She later said Alan Keogh tied Mitchell's feet together.

"I just said it because I was being called a scumbag," she said.

"Who called you a scumbag?" Mr MacEntee asked. "One of the coppers," she replied.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Michael Peart.