Louth man told friend he cut another man's throat, court told

A Louth man told a close friend that he had cut another man's throat, a jury in the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Mr Patrick Duffy told Mr Edward Comyn SC, prosecuting, that Mr Gregory Conway pointed to his neck and said Mr Liam "Limbo" Murphy was dead. Mr Duffy told the court he did not believe him.

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

Mr Duffy told the court he had called into a friend's flat with his girlfriend. When he arrived the accused was already there and appeared to be badly beaten up. He was holding an ice pack to his face.

Mr Duffy said Mr Conway asked his girlfriend to leave the room because he wanted to talk to "his brother". He explained that Mr Conway always called him brother.

"He still had the ice to his face and he had his hand up to his neck, basically throat cut." Mr Duffy said the accused pointed to himself and said "pick up a paw paw"; a quote from the Jungle Book film "it was a wee saying he had".

Mr Duffy said he had been drinking very heavily at the time and had mistakenly told gardaí in his statement that Mr Conway asked him to help to bury the body. He said that other people had suggested this to him and he had got confused.

He said he did not believe Mr Conway and had even said to his father, when he drove him home, that he didn't believe the story.

The jury also heard from Garda Michael Sheridan who told Mr Comyn that the accused told gardaí when interviewed that Mr David Bibby was lying to protect himself about the events on the night of the killing.

Mr Robert Orr, told Mr Giollaíosa O Lideadha, defending, he had known the deceased for around twelve years. He said he saw the deceased every day at least once. On the morning of the killing he said he had called round in the morning to ask Mr Murphy for €20 he had leant him.

He said Mr Murphy didn't have the money in the morning but when he called back after 4pm he gave him the money. Mr Orr said there were three men "hanging around outside" but he didn't see anyone in the house apart from Mr Murphy.

Mr O Lideadha asked him whether Mr Bibby had been living with Mr Murphy as a carer. "I called to Limbo every morning and some evenings. I was sitting in the house with him. There never was anybody there when I was there."

Mr Orr said Mr Murphy was "a very individual lad" who didn't need any kind of home help. "He could fight for himself."

The jury also heard from Ms Angelique Grogan who worked in Mr Murphy's local shop. She told Mr O Lideadha Mr Murphy came into the shop with an English man who matched Mr Bibby's description. She said the English man was "very ignorant and never friendly" to both her and Mr Murphy.

She didn't think the English man seemed like the sort of man who would be a carer as "he seemed ignorant and not a nice man."

The trial will continue tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury of ten women and two men.