Man accused of killing brother on trial in Dublin

The father of a Cork man accused of stabbing his brother said the accused had a mad glare in his eye at the time of the killing and it seemed like he was on "something heavy".

Patrick Lynch (aged 25), of Fairfield Square, Farranree, Cork City denies murdering 27-year-old Peter Lynch at Fairfield Square during a row in the early hours of August 3, 2006.

Mr Peter Lynch Snr told Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that he met Peter Jnr and Patrick while he was in Cork City having a couple of pints during the day. He said that Patrick had been "hyper" all day.

When he returned to the house he shared with his wife, Patrick and his youngest son and went to bed. He was woken after midnight by "shouting and roaring" from the back garden where Patrick was entertaining a few friends.

Mr Lynch told Ms Kennedy that he had stuck his head out of the window to tell them to be quiet as one of their elderly neighbours was unwell. When the noise grew again he called the gardaí but cancelled his call when they "quietened down" again.

He said that when things got rowdy again he called Peter Jnr who lived with his partner and their young child because he was good at "calming" his brother. Peter arrived a short time later and went through to the kitchen where he started "giving out about the condition he was in and telling him to catch himself on and all that".

They went into garden and Mr Lynch said he followed them and saw Patrick on top of Peter "digging him in the chest. I didn't see anything in his hands." He tried to separate them and said he didn't realise Peter Jnr had been stabbed until he saw blood running down his leg.

He told the court Peter Jnr got up and fell to the side before staggering forward and collapsing. "Patrick got all excited. He said "I told you I'd do it. I told you I'd do ya."

Mr Lynch said he saw his son throw something in the direction of the neighbours' gardens then went back into the house. "He was shouting and roaring and he put his hand through a pain of glass. I never saw him like that in my life."

He told Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, that Patrick had been involved in a fatal car accident at the age of 15 which had a profound effect on him.

Mr Lynch said Patrick had problems at school. "He was a very slow learner" but, he said, he had taught himself to read and write. He said Patrick "could be childish at times" and had "fallen into bad company there when he was having difficulty in school."

After spending time in a local addiction centre Mr Lynch said Patrick "improved altogether after that".

He said he had never seen his son the way he was on the night of Peter Jnr's death. "There was a mad look in his eyes as if he was on some sort of very serious drugs."

The trial will continue tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White and the jury of seven women and five men at the Central Criminal Court.