Accused says he was protecting girlfriend

A man told gardaí that he punched a 57-year-old man, whom he is accused of unlawfully killing, after he woke up to find the man "feeling his girlfriend’s tits", when the couple had been sleeping rough in a doorway under a duvet.

Detective Garda Andrew Duignan was giving evidence in the trial of Mr Derek Clarke (aged 26) of Moneymore, Drogheda, Co Louth, who has pleaded not guilty to unlawfully killing Mr Martin Reilly on Island Street, Dublin 8, on July 12, 2004.