Man accused of manslaughter wished he could 'turn back the clock'

A young man accused of manslaughter has said he wished to "turn back the clock" on the night he allegedly hit a middle-aged Sligo native, who died in a coma six weeks later .

David McCabe (aged 24) of Cloonlara Road, Finglas told his counsel in Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that he panicked and ran after he "swung around and caught" Mr Kevin Durcan outside a chip shop on Parkgate Street.

He told Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC (with Ms Sandra Frayne BL) that Mr Durcan, formerly of Mont Pellier Drive and a native of Sligo, gave him "a dig" in the back of his head as he was crossing the street after getting a take-away.

Mr McCabe has pleaded not guilty to unlawfully killing Mr Durcan after a single blow assault at a Parkgate Street junction in the early hours of November 21, 2005.

Mr McCabe said he told Mr Durcan to f*** off when the 47-year-old mumbled something to him as he was waiting to cross at traffic lights but denied he did anything to provoke "a dig" as suggested by prosecution counsel, Ms Mary Rose Gearty BL in cross-examination.

Mr McCabe described running up Infirmary Road "in shock" and said he couldn't recall anyone shouting at him or meeting a neighbour on his way home.

Former Deputy State Pathologist for the North, Dr Dereck Carson, told the court that he didn't believe that the deceased's head injury was the major cause of his death.

He told Ms Ring that Mr Durcan's brain showed no bruising or bleeding and that the bone break above his right eye would usually have no effect on heart beat or breathing.

Dr Carson concluded that the lack of oxygen to Mr Durcan's brain set in motion the train of events that ultimately caused his death.

He said it was possible that blood from his sinuses when he hit the ground, trickled into his airways as people at the scene rolled him on his back to obtain a pulse and this caused the oxygen lack in his brain.

Dr Carson said had the deceased regained his breathing earlier, "he could and would have survived".

He said hospital reports show that Mr Durcan had three times the legal limit of alcohol for drivers in his blood the night of the incident and this would have affected the time taken to recover breathing.