Limerick man's conviction for murder in cocaine-fuelled stabbing unsafe, court told

Mark Crawford had only known Patrick ‘Pa’ O’Connor for one day when he stabbed him six times, with wounds piercing the victim’s heart and neck

Mark Crawford claimed he had been acting in self-defence at the time. File photo: Press 22

A man who stabbed a new drinking pal to death during a cocaine-fuelled bender was convicted of murder after the jury was wrongly advised about the issue of self-defence by the trial judge, his lawyers told the Court of Appeal on Thursday.

Mark Crawford (44) had only known Patrick ‘Pa’ O’Connor (24) for one day when he stabbed him six times, with wounds piercing the victim’s heart and neck, at Fitzgerald’s Bar on Sexton Street in Limerick city.