Homeless man accused of stabbing victim 21 times

The trial has started in the Central Criminal Court of a homeless man accused of stabbing another man in the jugular vein with a shard of glass.

Gregory Conway (aged 36) of no fixed abode denies the murder of Liam "Limbo" Murphy, also known as Liam Maguire, in the deceased man's house in Dundalk, Co Louth on June 15 or June 16 last year.

Mr Edward Comyn SC, prosecuting, told the jury of 10 women and two men they would hear that the deceased man was a lonely sort of man who lived a very unstable life.

He was a chronic alcoholic who was "very free" in allowing people into his house to drink with him.

He was also the kind of man who was frequently "sponged off" (materially exploited) by the type of people he allowed in.

On the day of his death he had invited four homeless men back to his house and they had been drinking all afternoon in a downstairs room of the house. Mr Conway and another man were sent out to buy more drink on two occasions.

At some stage a row developed and a glass-fronted cabinet was smashed, leaving shards of glass on the floor.

Mr Comyn said the jury would also hear from the assistant state pathologist who would say that the deceased man had been slashed on the neck and suffered 21 puncture wounds to that area of varying degrees of severity.

One of those wounds punctured the left internal jugular vein and was the cause of death.

He told the jury it was the prosecution case that one of the shards of glass from the cabinet was used to inflict these wounds.

The jury would hear that the deceased was discovered by gardaí lying prostrate on his bed. There was a lot of blood on the bed and also on the walls and floor of the bedroom.

He said the jury would hear from witnesses who had seen the accused later that night who would say that he was covered in a large amount of blood. There would also be evidence that Mr Conway tried to burn the clothes he had been wearing.

Mr Comyn told the jury that at later that same night Mr Conway was himself attacked and badly beaten but refused to go in the ambulance that was called for him.

He was given fresh clothes and cleaned up his injuries then went to an abandoned house which was where he was later arrested by gardaí.

The trial will continue tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury.