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.

Det Gda Duignan told Mr Sean Gilliane BL, prosecuting, that Mr Clarke said he had never met Mr Reilly before July 12. He had noticed Mr Reilly at about 6.30pm that evening walking up and down the Quays watching his girlfriend while she was going to the toilet.

Mr Reilly asked him if his girlfriend needed an ambulance but Mr Clarke said that she did not need one and that he could look after her.

Mr Clarke told gardaí that the next time he met Mr Reilly was when he woke up at about 10pm on Island Street, having been asleep with his girlfriend in the doorway of the Simon Community building, to have a cigarette and found Mr Reilly lying beside his girlfriend under the covers.

He told gardaí that he got up and punched Mr Reilly but said he struck him on the jaw and denied hitting him in the head.

Det Gda Duignan said Mr Clarke told gardaí the man fell to the ground but later admitted to striking Mr Reilly after he had got up off the ground the first time and had begun to walk away, because he thought the man was going to come back.

He later admitted to kicking the man after gardaí read out witness statements to Mr Clarke. He said he had kicked Mr Reilly in the head but denied using any force.

Det Gda Duignan said when Mr Clarke was asked if he felt responsible for Mr Reilly’s death, he replied he did but said he did not murder Mr Reilly, rather he had seriously assaulted him.

Mr Clarke said that Mr Reilly never hit him because he said he had no reason to. "I was in the right and he was in the wrong. He got in beside my girlfriend and I love her with all my heart."

When asked by gardaí how many times he had struck Mr Reilly, Mr Clarke replied that he "kicked and punched him as much as he deserved".

Mr Clarke later said that he was to blame for punching the man but he said Mr Reilly was mostly to blame because he said he should not have got in beside his girlfriend. He told gardaí that people say you should not touch what you cannot afford.

Det Gda Duignan said Mr Clarke agreed with gardaí when asked if this meant that touching Mr Clarke's girlfriend cost Mr Reilly his life.

Det Gda Duignan told Mr Peter Finlay SC (with Mr Padraig Dywer BL), defending, in cross-examination, that he had never met Mr Clarke before that day and said that although Mr Clarke had never told gardaí he could not read or write, he presumed he could since he signed his notes of the interview.

Mr Finlay asked Det Gda Duignan if he would be surprised to hear that a reputable expert has diagnosed Mr Clarke as having a mild intellectual disability, his intelligence being in the lowest 1% of the population.

Det Gda Duignan said he was very surprised by this because he said Mr Clarke showed no signs of being "slow" in any shape or form and he said he was satisfied that Mr Clarke was fully aware of the reason for his arrest and his subsequent detention in the garda station.

Det Gda Duignan agreed with Mr Finlay that Mr Clarke’s reason for punching Mr Reilly was because he was a stranger who had got under the covers with himself and his girlfriend and had attempted to interfere with the woman.

Det Gda Duignan did not accept a suggestion by Mr Finlay that Mr Clarke was tired and showing signs of this when the notes of the Garda interview were read over to him. He told counsel that in his opinion "it was very clear the accused was not tired and he was in fact more awake than me".

Mr Finlay then referred Det Gda Duignan to the first question put to Mr Clarke during the Garda interview, when he was asked if he was cold and Mr Clarke replied "Me? Tired".

He asked Det Gda Duignan why the member in charge was not called in at this point to assess Mr Clarke’s level of tiredness.

Det Gda Duignan said this was not done because he himself was satisfied that Mr Clarke was not tired.

The trial continues before Judge Yvonne Murphy and a jury of four women and eight men.