Murder accused told gardaí he was 'responsible' for stabbing friend

A young Dublin man accused of murder approached Gardaí and told them that he was “responsible” for stabbing his friend, the Central Criminal Court heard today.

Mark Green (20), Tritonville Rd, Sandymount, Dublin 4, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Alan Young (19), George Reynolds House, Ringsend, at or near Bremen Rd, Irishtown, Dublin on March 11 last year. Mr Young was found near Irishtown sports stadium with a stab wound in his chest.

Detective Garda Frank Sinclair, Pearse St Garda Station, told prosecuting counsel Patrick Gageby SC that he and two other Gardai were on patrol during the early hours of March 11 last year when they were dispatched to the scene of a reported stabbing.

Det Gda Sinclair said that they observed a man on Pigeon House Rd, near the scene of the alleged murder. It was Mr Green. “He was distraught, crying.”

Det Gda Sinclair told the jury that Mr Green approached the car and said that he was “responsible for the stabbing.”

“He had the appearance of somebody who had been in a fight. His lips were swollen and bleeding and there was blood on his T-shirt.”

He said that Mr Green proceeded to tell them that Mr Young, a friend of his, had “kicked the face off him twice that night”, that he “only waved the knife and that Alan Young had walked into it.”

“He said that he had taken the knife from David McKeever’s house, that he didn’t mean this to happen and he told us where he’d dumped the knife.”

Det Gda Sinclair told defence counsel Anne Rowland BL that Mr Green was “desperate” to tell the Gardaí what had happened.

Earlier, State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy told the court that the stab wound found on the left-hand side of Mr Young’s chest was “consistent with a short attack, only one thrust of the knife.”

She said that such an injury could have been caused by Mr Green and Mr Young “standing face to face, with the knife in Mr Green’s right hand swung in an arc toward the left side of the victim’s chest.”

She agreed with defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC that such a scenario was not the only possibility.

Aisling Barry, from Irishtown, told the court that she was in the Irishtown House pub on the night of the alleged murder.

She told Mr Grehan that the accused came in and said hello to her but that she didn’t speak to him because he hadn’t invited her to a party in his house the previous night.

She said that, later, having noticed Mr Young and a friend at the bar, she pulled up a stool and began chatting to them.

Ms Barry agreed with Mr Grehan that there was “a fair bit of complaining” about Mr Green because she hadn’t been invited to the his house and because he hadn’t allowed Mr Young to bring a girl there.

“Alan [Young] said, ‘I’m going to give him a slap’ and walked over and slapped him [Mr Green] across the face.”

Earlier this week, the court heard of a second altercation between the accused and the deceased, which happened outside, near the Irishtown sports stadium.

Stephen Dunphy, from Ringsend, told the court that during that altercation, Mr Young “punched and kicked” Mr Green.

“Mark wasn’t fighting back, just walking around and taking it. It ended because Alan seemed to get tired of hitting Mark.”

Andrew McDonald, from Ringsend, told the court that he had met Mr Young and Mr Green on the Friday night before the alleged murder.

“There was no disagreement. As far as I knew, they were good friends,” he said.