'He understood me' - Accused tells murder trial he was a friend of homeless Corkman

The court heard the accused told gardaí that the unnamed man had struck Timothy Hourihane "straight down on his head with his left leg"

A jury at the Central Criminal Court heard that James Brady told gardaí that he saw Timmy Hourihane (pictured) receive "20 to 25 kicks" from another man.

The accused in a murder trial insisted to gardaí he was a friend of the victim and did not take part in the assault that ended his life, a court has heard.

A jury at the Central Criminal Court heard that James Brady told gardaí that he had tried to stop the attack but saw Timmy Hourihane receive "20 to 25 kicks" from another man who is also charged with his murder at a park off Mardyke Walk on October 13, 2019.

Brady, 28, of Shannon Lawn, Mayfield, Cork, had contacted gardaí about what happened after speaking to his drug addiction sponsor and his father. Hourihane, who came from the Sheep's Head Peninsula outside Bantry in West Cork, was brought to hospital where he died shortly following the assault.

Brady has pleaded not guilty to the murder of chef Timmy Hourihane. Both men were homeless at the time and had been living in a so-called tented village at Mardyke Walk.

"The only reason I went to the Garda station is because Timmy was my friend. That's the only reason," he told gardaí during a specialist interview in Blackpool on October 19, 2019.

James Brady (right) told the court he had contacted gardaí about what happened after speaking to his drug addiction sponsor and his father. Photo: Michael Mac Sweeney/Cork Courts

Det Sgt John O'Connell, who conducted the interview, told Brady: "There's a man not here today . . . It's the most serious crime there can be." He told Brady he was doing his civic duty by partaking in the interview. "I don't mind," Brady replied.

He said he did not care that Hourihane was gay, and said the older man used to tease Brady and tell him he was good looking, but he described it as a joke between the two of them. "We fell out from time to time," he told gardaí, but they would patch things up shortly afterwards.

Hourihane had gotten him a job when he was training as a chef around eight years earlier and the two later lived in a squat together. When asked if they had been in a sexual relationship with each other, he said no.

Brady said Hourihane treated him with respect.

He understood me. He didn't judge me - my family did - I really liked him. I didn't really trust people. My mam left at seven.

The video recording of the interview showed the accused demonstrating the attack on the chef of which he maintains he had no part. Brady could be seen stamping on a carton in the footage, telling the Garda that this was done by the unnamed man, while Brady and a woman tried to pull him off.

He said he could hear Hourihane "screaming" but the unnamed man "kept going". He could hear the victim groaning and saw then that he was no longer moving. "His eyes were open," he said. I knew there was something seriously wrong."

He later told gardaí that the unnamed man had struck Hourihane "straight down on his head with his left leg". In total there were "20 or 25 kicks in a short time," according to Brady.

Brady said Hourihane had left the camp after the death of his aunt to attend the funeral. 

Tensions

There had been an argument at the camp where the other man accused of his murder, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had said there should be "no gays around here" at the camp.

When Hourihane returned just days before his death, he "was full of life as he always was", Brady said. "It helped me like. I gave him a can, (unnamed man) didn't like that. (Unnamed man) thought he had ran him out of the place before that."

Moments before the fatal assault that resulted in his death, Brady said that "out of nowhere Timmy said to (unnamed man) 'You're looking gorgeous.'" The man then "snapped" and punched Hourihane, knocking him to the ground, Brady said in the interview.

In that later interview from December 16, 2019, conducted following his arrest, Brady told gardaí of tensions connected to drug use at the camp off Mardyke Walk. Brady felt the unnamed men were watching him and said they had been lecturing him about his heroin use.

"They said there would be trouble if I kept using," he said. He said he had been living in town for most of the past decade and had always tried to get on with other people.

"As long as I'm in that town I never even once had even an argument," he said. "I gets on with everybody."

The court heard Brady was cooperative with gardaí throughout. The trial before the jury of seven women and five men continues.