Clonmel murder followed Halloween bonfire, court hears

A jury in the trial of a 23-year-old Tipperary man accused of murder has heard that a row allegedly broke out after a Halloween bonfire in 2002.

Mr PJ Hawkins told the court that in the early hours of November 1, 2002, the accused and the 21-year-old deceased man allegedly had a row.

Mr Gabriel (Gay) Burns of Cooleen’s Close, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Jamie Lonergan (aged 21) of Exhibition House, O’Connell Street, Clonmel, Co. Tipperary.

"Gay said, would Jamie go into the field, so I stayed where I was," Mr Hawkins told the court. Fifteen minutes later, the witness said, the accused came back out of the field alone.

"Gay came out of the field on his own, he said, let’s get out of here fast," he said.

Mr Lonergan’s body was discovered in the hourly hours of November 1, 2002 at an area known as Kelly’s Field, Gortmalogue, Clonmel.

Prosecuting counsel, Mr George Birmingham SC, said in his opening speech to the jury that Mr Lonergan was out celebrating Halloween the night before he was fatally stabbed, visiting various bonfire’s throughout Clonmel. Mr Lonergan, the prosecutor said, "met a violent death".

Professor John Harbison, former State Pathologist, will give evidence, Mr Birmigham told the jury that Mr Lonergan suffered "41 stab wounds". Dr Harbison, he said "concluded that the deceased died from a loss of blood due to multiple stab wounds".

Mr Birmingham told the jury that there was a "large bonfire" at an area known as the Poppy Fields near Wheatfield housing estate in which a couple of hundred people attended. "There was no shortage of drink and drugs also were not in short supply," Mr Birmingham SC said.

The deceased and the accused attended that bonfire, the prosecutor said.

In the hours before the fatal stabbing, Mr Lonergan went with a friend to an off license in the town and then made his way at around 9.40pm to the Poppy Fields, Mr Birmingham SC said.

On their way to the bonfire, a garda was "concerned for their sobriety" and Mr Lonergan was arrested under public order legislation and was later released from Clonmel Garda Station at 11pm, the court heard.

Mr Birmingham said the deceased then continued to the bonfire at the Poppy Fields arriving at 11.40pm, spending two hours at the bonfire. Both the deceased and Mr Burns attended the bonfire during the same time span, Mr Birmingham told the jury.

PJ Hawkins from Clonmel told the court that he was "drinking at bonfires" on the night of October 31,2002.

After drinking two litres of cider at a bonfire at Garrymoore in the town, Mr Hawkins and a group of his friends decided to walk to the bonfire at the Poppy Fields.

But Mr Hawkins told the jury that after he had a "call of nature", his friends went on without him, leaving him at St Luke’s Hospital.

The court heard that Mr Hawkins decided to go to a different bonfire at Elm Park but there was "no one up there" so he went back to the Garry Moore bonfire where he consumed a further two litres of cider.

When he returned home, Mr Hawkins told the court, he either received a phone call or made a phone call to the accused man. The pair arranged to meet around St Luke’s Hospital as the accused allegedly said to him that he was coming from the Poppy Fields.

Mr Hawkins said he met up with Mr Burns "just as he was coming into St Lukes". The accused he said was with Mr Lonergan. The three of them he said then "sat down and had a few joints and cider". "It was just the three of us," Mr Hawkins told the court.

The deceased, Mr Hawkins alleged in court owed Mr Burns money. "Jamie said he’d fix him up when he got paid," he said.

"We were just chatting and one thing led to another and the two of them went off into the field," Mr Hawkins told the court.

"Gay said, would Jamie go into the field, so I stayed where I was," the court heard. Fifteen minutes later, the witness said, the accused came back out of the field alone.

"Gay came out of the field on his own, he said, let’s get out of here fast," Mr Hawkins said.

The witness claims the accused had "blood on his hand" and there was a "knife in his hand".

The pair, Mr Hawkins said, took a short cut to Elm Park through St Luke’s hospital and as they were walking past the ambulances, the accused allegedly asked him to "go back and ask if Jamie was alright".

"I told him to go and fuck off," Mr Hawkins told the court.

Under cross examination by Mr Diarmaid McGuinness SC, Mr Hawkins told the court that his some of his earlier statements to gardaí were "all lies".

Defence counsel, Mr McGuinness, asked the witness why he "invented" things about Mr Burns, to which Mr Hawkins replied: "I was nervous, I didn’t want to tell the truth so I just made up a whole of lies."

Mr Hawkins said under cross-examination that he "only told the truth" when he was interviewed in Cahir Garda Station, Tipperary.

Mr Hawkins under cross-examination said he consumed up to seven litres of cider, ecstasy tablets and heroin on the night of Mr Lonergan was fatally stabbed.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court.