Man claims he hit deceased in gay row, court hears

The trial of two Dublin men accused of murdering a man heard that one of the accused "whacked" the dead man with a crutch after he said the deceased "had his hands down me mate's trousers", a jury at the Central Criminal Court heard today in a statement read to the 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.

Mr Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, read to the court part of garda interviews with the accused Keogh.

The court heard that Keogh was arrested on October 20 after 9pm at Dun Laoghaire Port at the ferry terminal and was later interviewed at Crumlin Garda Station by Detective Sergeant John Walsh.

"Are you remorseful for having killed this man?" Sgt Walsh asked Keogh. "Yes," he replied.

Keogh told gardaí that he had been out drinking all day on October 16 and had "ended up bumping into that fellow" in a pub.

"Is that the fellow ultimately killed by you?" he was asked. "Yeah," Keogh replied.

The accused said "a boy and a girl" were with him on the night and later at the dead man's house where the assault took place, but Keogh repeatedly said he did not want to name them.

He described the party at Mr Mitchell's house as "well-behaved". "We were having a joke and a laugh," he said.

The "boy" who was with Keogh "passed out" on a couch in the sitting room where Mr Mitchell was also seated, the court heard.

"I looked over and he (Mitchell) was rubbing the back of the bloke I was with. I told him he wasn't that kind of fellow," Keogh said in the statement.

Keogh then dosed off for a couple of minutes and woke up and saw "he had his hands down me mate's trousers".

The accused then reached for his friend's crutch at the end of the couch: "I grabbed it and started whacking him with it," Keogh said.

The deceased then "fell back towards the kitchen" and appeared with a knife in his hand, according to Keogh.

"What happened then?" Sgt Walsh asked him.

"When he had the knife I was swinging the crutch a couple of times. Then the two of us fell over on the couch, I tried to grab the knife off him and I ended up cutting my hand," he replied.

Keogh had a deep cut across the fingers of his right hand, the court heard.

He admitted stabbing Mr Mitchell. "Then I was on top of him and I was just stabbing him. I can't tell you how many times I stabbed him, it was a good few times," he said.

"I kind of blacked out", he added.

Keogh said after the stabbing he went into the kitchen and washed the knife off.

Cross-examined by Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, Sgt Walsh agreed that Keogh expressed remorse on "quite a number of occasions" and was helpful to gardaí following his arrest.

The court also heard part of gardaí interviews with the accused McNevin, who was arrested on October 24.

Asked about the events at Mr Mitchell's house, Detective Garda Eamonn Moloney said: "Was there trouble, a row?"

"It turned out this chap was gay and he was holding my hand, trying to, whatever," McNevin replied.

He added: "I just told the chap I'm not like that. I have kids. After a good bit of persuasion, he agreed I wasn't like that and he stopped it."

McNevin said he later woke up to "shouting going on" and was told that "he was after touching me when I was asleep", the court heard.

He said he gave Mr Mitchell "a box" but then fell to the floor because he lost his balance.

McNevin denied stabbing the deceased or that he saw him getting stabbed.

"An argument is alright, but stabbing I'm not into," he said.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Michael Peart.