Accused claims he stabbed man in self-defence

A 24-year-old man on trial for the murder of his sister’s partner told gardaí he only stabbed him twice in self-defence but did not kill him the Central Criminal Court heard today.

The court also heard the accused man, who had armed himself with a knife hours before the killing, continued drinking with his friends after the stabbing.

Fintan McKenna (aged 24), of Woodlands, Balla, Castlebar has pleaded not guilty to murdering Francis ‘Frankie’ Heneghan (aged 24) in Kiltimagh Co Mayo on August 12, 2009.

It is the prosecution’s case Mr McKenna stabbed the deceased 11 times during an altercation in a laneway at the side of the Tavern pub in Kiltimagh.

Sgt Garry Walsh told the court he interviewed the accused on August 13, 2009 following his arrest on suspicion of assault causing harm in relation to Mr Heneghan.

Mr McKenna admitted to Sgt Walsh, on the way to Swinford garda station, he stabbed Mr Heneghan once in the chest after the deceased assaulted him and then threw the knife into the laneway at the Tavern pub.

During interviews the accused said he had asked his friend Kevin Carmichael for the knife he saw sticking out of his pocket, after Mr Heneghan had challenged him to fight.

He said: "I got the knife to protect myself because Frankie has used weapons in the past; batons, baseball bats things like that."

Later that night, Mr McKenna said he was walking up the Tavern laneway alone when he saw two figures walking towards him.

"One of them hit me in the face, I got hit a load of times. I presume it was Frankie I have no enemies nobody else would want to fight me," he told gardaí.

The accused said he took the knife out of his pocket and stuck it in the man twice in the ribs before running away up to Main Street.

He said: "I only nicked him twice in the ribs, I didn’t kill him he couldn’t have died from that stab wound."

When asked by Sgt Walsh how he could be sure he had not killed Mr Heneghan the accused replied: "I knew he wasn’t badly hurt I wasn’t going to kill anyone. I didn’t think anything of it I even went back down to the drinking area."

Mr McKenna told gardaí he had known the deceased for five years, as he was his sister’s partner, but he was "not a nice person" and they had never got on.

He denied stabbing the deceased more than twice but later in the interview said: "Maybe the knife went a bit deeper, I don’t know. I did stab him but not in the way you say."

Earlier, Gda Barry Walsh, of Swinford Garda Station, gave evidence he followed Mr Heneghan into the Tavern laneway minutes before his death.

Gda Walsh told the court he pursued Mr Heneghan onto Main Street Rear but noticed two men, standing to his right at the bottom of the laneway, as he exited.

He told Ms Walley SC, prosecuting, he did not recognise either of the men at the time but noticed one of them was wearing a blue jumper which he subsequently saw Fintan McKenna wearing an hour later.

Gda Walsh said Mr McKenna approached the laneway at approximately 1:20am while the scene was being preserved.

The accused was wearing the same blue jumper and a beige coat both of which were bloodstained.

When Gda Walsh questioned Mr McKenna about the blood he said he had been assaulted in the Tavern laneway earlier that night and had cut his lip.

The trail continues tomorrow before Mr Justice John Edwards.