Witness says he saw friend fall to ground after being stabbed

A witness has told a Central Criminal Court jury that he saw his friend fall to the ground after he had been fatally stabbed after a night out to celebrate leaving school.

Finn Colclough (aged 18), with an address at Waterloo Road, Dublin 4, denies stabbing student Sean Nolan at Waterloo Road in the early hours of May 26, 2007.

Ciaran Wogan, a friend of the deceased told prosecuting counsel Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC that he, Mr Nolan and another friend had been celebrating finishing at St Joseph’s CBS in Fairview.

They had been refused at several nightclubs when they went in search of a girl that Mr Nolan knew named Sara, who he thought lived on Waterloo Road. On the way they stopped at a garage and bought a bottle of wine.

Mr Wogan told Ms Ring that they had met Mr Colclough and two friends near Mr Colclough’s house.

He said Mr Colclough had long hair at the time and was carrying two or three cans of Right Guard deodorant.

He said he and his friends asked them where Sara lived. He said they the conversation was friendly enough and Mr Colclough and his friends returned to the house.

He said that they didn’t move on from the house immediately. He said Mr Nolan was calling other friends and they were standing on the street. Mr Wogan said a girl who had been with the accused at the earlier meeting came out of the house and told them to move on.

He said he saw Mr Colclough come running out of the house with a knife in each hand shouting at them to “get the fuck out of here”. He said he seemed to be “out of control”.

Mr Wogan said Mr Nolan “stood up” to Mr Nolan: “He just stood up and said what are you going to do about it.”

Mr Wogan said he did not remember who struck the first blow: “I remember a knife being swung, a punch being thrown but I don’t know what happened first.”

He said Mr Nolan took a few steps back while Mr Colclough was “running in and out of the garden shouting get the f*** out of here”. Mr Wogan said his friend said to him “I’m after being stabbed”.

He said he saw Mr Nolan fall to the ground, his skin turning white. His friend turned to him and said “he’s dying, mate” and told him to call an ambulance.

Mr Wogan said that he, Mr Nolan and their friend Eric Treacy had started their evening in Smyths pub in Fairview. They had moved on to Barcode nightclub in Clontarf then taken a taxi into town to Reds nightclub on O’Connell Bridge.

After about an hour they tried to get into the Q Bar, then Eamon Doran's. When they failed to get into either place they took another taxi back to Barcode but found the place closed.

They took another taxi back into town and went to a nightclub on Leeson Street but didn’t stay. It was at this stage that Mr Nolan decided to go and look for Sara.

Mr James Chambers, a friend of Mr Colclough’s older brother Anthony, told Ms Ring that he had spent the evening of May 25 at a 21st birthday party being held in Spy Nightclub in the Powerscourt Centre in the city centre. He had met Mr Colclough, his brother and his parents there.

At around half past two he left the club with the Colclough brothers and a large group of friends. They went straight back to the Colclough’s house. Mr Chambers said he went upstairs to use the computer then went into Anthony’s room where he remained.

He told Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending, that he lived in Fairview and was a neighbour of Mr Nolan. He said that he knew the Sara Mr Nolan had been looking for but she and Mr Nolan did not get on.

“She didn’t particularly like us because we were being anti-Semitic.”

A friend of the accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that Mr Colclough had drunk between eight and 14 rounds of drink at the 21st birthday party. She said there was a free bar at the beginning of the night with cocktails, wine and beer.

She said that Mr Colclough was the drunkest that she had ever seen him but she herself had not drunk that much when they left Spy and went back to Mr Colclough’s house.

She said that everyone was in high spirits after the party and she stayed with Mr Colcough and another friend in the kitchen. “We were making sandwiches and we were having a laugh.”

The girl, who was 15 at the time, told Ms Ring that there was some marijuana at the house which she rolled into a joint. She and Mr Colclough smoked the joint sitting on the steps outside the house.

After a while they decided to go for a walk but only got a few steps before encountering Mr Nolan and his two friends. She told Ms Ring that the three older boys were very aggressive and she was afraid there would be a fight.

She said Mr Nolan and his friends were “waving their arms and being very aggressive” when they asked where to find Sara.

She said that she had never worked out why Mr Nolan and his friends were so aggressive that night. “I think it maybe because we weren’t dressed in shirts and jeans and were more rockers.”

The girl said she and Mr Colclough and their friend went back into the house but the three others stayed outside shouting: “Are you having fun hiding in your house?”

She said she went outside and told them to go away.

She said she went back inside and went upstairs to Anthony Colclough’s bedroom to tell the others what was going on. When she came back down she could see Finn outside the house.

“He was shouting 'Stay away from my house' and the guys then continued to be aggressive to him.”

She said that she had a feeling that something bad was going to happen that night. She said she did not hear the three other boys say anything to Mr Colclough.

She told Ms Ring that Mr Nolan pushed Mr Colclough in the chest and Mr Colclough pushed him back. She said that Mr Nolan then punched Mr Colclough in the face before grabbing his chest and going backwards.

She saw Mr Colclough go back into the house holding a knife, which he took over to the kitchen sink and washed it. There was blood on it. She said that it was as if something in him had snapped.

“To me it wasn’t even Finn. He didn’t even look like himself.”

She said that Mr Colclough went back outside and saw what had happened then came back in and phoned for an ambulance “and it was Finn again”.

The jury also heard that when the gardaí arrived Mr Colclough told them “It was me.”

“He hit me. I never left the garden. I’m only 17.”

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury of seven men and five women.