'I'm actually so in fear of my life right now': Murder trial jury listens to teenager's 999 recording
A 999 call made by the accused, Dean Kerrie, was played for 12 jurors.
A murder trial jury has listened to a 999 recording of a teenage boy saying: "I'm actually so in fear of my life right now" after he told a dispatcher that he stabbed a fisherman "by accident" and that the man had come "in the front door at him" and tried to hit him in the early hours of the morning.
"I did it, but didn't mean to though," Dean Kerrie told the emergency services.
My life is going to be gone over him coming in here," he also said.
Mr Kerrie (now aged 20) of St Brigid's Square, Portarlington, Co Laois, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jack Power (aged 25) at Shanakiel, Dunmore East, Co Waterford on July 26, 2018.
Giving evidence yesterday, Sergeant Michele Burns told Conor O'Doherty, prosecuting, that she received a disc containing seven individual 999 calls made in the early hours of July 27 in relation to the incident at Dunmore East.
The witness said the fourth call was made by Mr Kerrie's mother Ann Fitzgerald to emergency services at 3.37am, and she was requesting gardaí. The fifth call was made by the accused, Mr Kerrie, at 3.44am.
The prosecution played the 999 call made by Ms Fitzgerald to the jury. In the audio recording, the jury heard Ms Fitzgerald tell the dispatcher that the windows had been broken in her house. When the dispatcher asked: "Is that all that is after happening at Shanakiel — your windows have been broken?", Ms Fitzgerald replied: "Yes".
The second 999 call made by the accused, Mr Kerrie, was also played for the 12 jurors.
Caller: Hello, gardaí please and ambulance to Dunmore East, yeah Waterford please. My name is Dean, someone is after coming into my house and I've after stabbing him by accident. My mother was on the phone a minute ago, are ye on the way out?
Dispatcher: What is your name and date of birth?
Caller: Dean Kerrie. I don't have time for this. I think the man is dead on the road. I was asleep in my bed, the window was smashed in and your man came in the front door at me, trying to hit me. I did it, but didn't mean to though.
Dispatcher: Who is he?
Caller: His name is Jack Power from Dunmore East. I stabbed him in the chest. He's outside on the road and there's people out there with him. My windows have after been broken.
Dispatcher: Is Jack breathing or talking?
Caller: No, there is nothing out of him.
Dispatcher: It's OK the ambulance is on the way and so are the guards. What did you stab him with?
Caller: A kitchen knife, a big one, I don't know.
Dispatcher: Dean, where is the knife?
Caller: It's on the ground, here in front of me.
Dispatcher: Leave it where it is and don't touch it. The guards have to take it.
Caller: Yeah, OK.
Dispatcher: Where abouts are you in the house?
Caller: In my kitchen.
Dispatcher: Leave the knife where it is.
Caller: Ok, I left it on the ground.
Dispatcher: Who's in the house?
Caller: My cousin, my friend, and my mam Ann. She is very drunk right now.
Dispatcher: How old are you Dean?
Caller: I'm 17 ... I can't believe this.
Dispatcher: Do you know Jack Power?
Caller: Yes, I do know him. I've known him all my life ... He said I broke a wing mirror off his car and he broke my window.
Dispatcher: Is the front door open?
Caller: No, my cousin is holding it.
Dispatcher: You will have to open it for the guards.
Caller: Yeah.
Dispatcher: You are not going to run away?
Caller: No, cause it wasn't my fault, he was breaking into my own home. The kitchen knife is on the ground. I really didn't mean to do this in my own home. One of my friends saw me and my mum. I'm in fear of my life with these people coming back to my door. I don't know what to do. How long more will gardaí be?
Dispatcher: Gardaí will be there in about three minutes. Are you after having drink or drugs?
Caller: No.
Dispatcher: You're sober?
Caller: Yes, I'm sober.
Dispatcher: Is it just your mum who's had drink?
Caller: Yeah, that's all.
Dispatcher: Where does Jack live in Dunmore East? Is he the same age as you?
Caller: No, he is a man, like. He's mid-20s, he is big, like.
Dispatcher: Was there blood?
Caller: I'm in fear for my life in the house. Gardaí are about to pull in now. I'm actually so in fear of my life right now.
Dispatcher: Stay on the phone, you are doing everything right.
Caller: My mum is up in the attic, I don't know where else to put her.
Dispatcher: Just leave everything as it is, OK?
Caller: OK.
Dispatcher: Where are you?
Caller: I'm in the hall and the kitchen.
Dispatcher: You've left the knife where is it?
Caller: Yeah, on the ground. Will I hang up, the gardaí are outside my house?
Dispatcher: Stay on the phone. Is your mum still upstairs?
Caller: No, I took her down. I can see her. What's outside lads, I don't even want to look?
Dispatcher: It's only the gardaí. Any previous dealings with Jack Power?
Caller: No. My life is going to be gone over him coming in here.
Earlier, Detective Garda Janette O'Neill, who went to the accused's home at Shanakiel after the incident, said a wooden leg belonging to a broken chair located in the hallway of the house was found in the attic. Four areas on the leg of the chair had "blood smears" on them. A rock was also located on the couch of the sitting room.
The detective agreed with Ciaran O'Loughlin, defending, that the first thing she noticed were broken windows at the front of the property. Gda O'Neill said most of the glass was inside the house. The witness also agreed with the barrister that the chair in the hallway appeared to be very recently damaged and said she thought that the front door of the house had been forced open at some stage.
Det Gda O'Neill said, in her opinion, a violent altercation had taken place at the house. She agreed that the deceased had suffered a fatal stabbing. Mr O'Loughlin said that this was precisely what Mr Kerrie had told gardaí on the phone two days earlier.
"I don't know that," replied the witness.
Under re-examination, Det Gda O'Neill told Mr O'Doherty, prosecuting, that she could not date when the forced damage on the back of the front door had occurred.
Garda Conor Murphy said Mr Power's death was pronounced at 4.54am that morning. The witness identified to the jury a T-shirt worn by Mr Power that night, which was given to him by the emergency department in University Hospital Waterford. He showed the blood-stained centrepiece of the T-shirt to the jurors and pointed to a hole in the middle of it.
Detective Sergeant Melissa Lyons, from the fingerprint section of An Garda Siochána, said a palm mark was located on a black knife at the sink, which had a blood-like substance on it. "There were not enough ridge characteristics for me to compare it," she said.
The court also heard that two fingermarks belonging to Mr Kerrie were found on the front door of the house.
Opening the prosecution’s case last week, Mr Delaney said the jury may have to consider the issue of self-defence in the trial.
Counsel also said the jury would hear that a black-and-white-handled knife, which had been lying on the floor, was seized and swabbed for blood but "curiously no blood was found on the blade". The court heard gardaí found a similar knife partially concealed on the draining board in the kitchen of the house, which did appear to have blood and it was found to contain Mr Power's DNA.
The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of eight men and four women.
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