Murder accused felt 'heavy load' lift after confession, court told

A 22-year-old man on trial for murder told gardaí he felt like there was a “heavy load off” after he confessed to them that he had stabbed a man in the back.

The accused, Warren Graham, presented himself at Crumlin garda station a week after Paul Keegan was killed, and admitted that he had stabbed the 42-year-old.

Mr Graham, with an address at Shancastle Lawn in Clondalkin, said he was acting in defence of his friend who was being beaten by the deceased and who kept screaming: “Jab him. Jab him.”

“I stabbed him. I didn't mean to kill him...I just wanted to get him off (my friend),” he told investigating detectives.

The attack happened during a botched drugs collection in a laneway behind Cherryfield Road, Walkinstown on December 10, 2007.

Mr Graham has denied murder and has also pleaded not guilty to a second charge of having an imitation gun with intent to cause robbery.

In his evidence to the jury, Detective Sergeant Barry Butler said the accused told him he only became involved in the drugs “rip” the night before it occurred.

He said he was given a knife by his friend before they drove to the lane in Walkinstown where they were to meet a man and pretend they had 50 kilos of hash for him.

He said he was not sure of the details of the plan, but they were to intimidate him with an imitation gun and the knife in an effort to get the cash for the drugs.

Mr Graham said they met a jeep in the lane and when the “young fella” got out of it, his friend walked towards him, pointing the imitation firearm at him.

The accused said as he was getting out of the car holding the knife, he saw the “huge fella” (Paul Keegan) getting out of the jeep.

The jury has beard that Mr Keegan was 6 foot tall and of very heavy build.

The accused said the younger man pushed him and made a run for it, he gave chase but then he heard his friend screaming: “Warren come back.”

“ My mate called me back because the big fella was punching the head off him... He was hitting him with the imitation gun and the big fella was boxing the head off my friend. I panicked, I had the knife and I just stabbed him once in the side,” he told gardaí.

He said his friend wouldn't stop screaming: “Jab him. Jab him” so he just “ran in and done it”.

Mr Graham said the struggle continued so he stabbed Mr Keegan “one last time” before he screamed and fell to the ground.

The accused said they “tore off” in the car and he flung the knife out of the window.

He said he was in shock afterwards and felt like crying, but couldn't talk to anyone about the incident.

He said he knew Mr Keegan had been badly hurt and he had a “feeling he was dead from the way he fell and screamed”.

When asked if he felt remorse for what he had done, he replied: “Yes definitely. The man who was killed had a family.”

“ I feel like I'm after getting a heavy load off my back,” he then told gardaí at the end of his interview.

The deputy state pathologist Dr Michael Curtis told the jury that Mr Keegan sustained four stab wounds, the most serious of which was a 13cm deep wound to his chest which penetrated his heart.

He also sustained knife wounds to the stomach, back and back of the shoulder, the deepest of which was 19cm.

Dr Curtis said there were deep lacerations to his head and bruising on his face.

He agreed with counsel for the defence Ms Isobel Kennedy SC that Mr Keegan would have been capable of “fighting and struggling to the very end” after sustaining the wounds.

The trial resumes in the morning before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy.