Murder trial in closing stages

The jury in the trial of a 22-year-old man accused of murdering a man during a drugs “rip” will begin its deliberations at the Central Criminal Court tomorrow.

In closing speeches today, lawyers for the state argued that the accused cannot claim he was acting in defence of his friend when he stabbed the deceased, because the force used was “grossly disproportionate” and his main intention was to flee the scene.

Warren Graham, of Shancastle Lawn in Clondalkin, admitted to gardaí that he knifed Paul Keegan (aged 42), to save his friend who kept screaming for help while the deceased was “boxing the head off him”.

Mr Graham said he did not mean to kill Mr Keegan and just wanted to get him off his friend, so they could get away from scene of the hoax drug deal at Walkinstown, on December 10, 2007.

He has pleaded not guilty to murder and has also denied a second charge of having an imitation firearm with intent to cause robbery on the same date.

The court has that Mr Graham and his friend Philip Furlong drove to the lane behind Cherryfield Road and pretended they had hash for two other men, Thomas Maher and Paul Keegan.

They had been instructed by a third party to intimidate the men with an imitation gun and a knife in an effort to get the money for the drugs.

However, Mr Maher fled the scene once the weapons were produced, while Mr Keegan stood his ground, and became involved in a fight with Philip Furlong, who had the imitation gun.

The accused said he saw both men struggling and covered in blood, and he thought Mr Keegan was getting the better of his friend, who kept screaming “jab him, jab him”.

“I took this to mean stab him, so I did. In the back” he told gardaí.

Addressing the jury, counsel for the prosecution, Ms Una Ni Raffertaigh BL said: “Philip Furlong and Warren Graham were the initial aggressors. They were the ones who were armed, they started this, they created this. It did not escalate because of anything Paul Keegan did.”

She said Mr Keegan would have believed he had a real gun pointed at him, and acted lawfully when he tried to defend himself by getting that gun away from Mr Furlong.

She told the jury they should focus on the accused's interviews with gardaí, which formed the key evidence in the case.

“He said he saw Paul Keegan boxing the head off the other man, but he also describes his friend beating Mr Keegan over the head with the gun...in that situation is it reasonable for someone to go in and stab him?” she said.

She said the accused could not claim he was acting in defence of his friend because Mr Keegan was “not presenting such a risk as to make it necessary to stick a knife in him four times”.

She said the force used was grossly disproportionate and the accused's main intention was escape and not the rescue of his friend.

“Not once does he say he thought (his friend) would be killed, he keeps saying he wanted to get out of the laneway," she said, referring to his interview with gardaí.

Mr Graham's defence lawyer, Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, asked the jury to put themselves in the accused's shoes on the night.

She said he was a small 5 foot 5 inch 20 year old who found himself in an out of control situation in a dark laneway, “faced with two extremely large men by anyone's reckoning”.

Mr Maher is 6 foot 7 inches in height while Mr Keegan was 6 foot tall, and described as very well built and powerful.

Referring to the prosecution's argument that the force used was disproportionate, Ms Kennedy asked the jury to recall that the deputy state pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, said the force used was “at least moderate” and at the lower end of the scale.

She said the jury should return a verdict of manslaughter if they conclude that Mr Graham believed he had to do what he did.

However, she said they should acquit him entirely if they were of the view that “any of you would have done the same thing in the situation as he viewed it”.

The jury of six men and six women will retire to consider their verdict today.