'We ran for our lives': Cork man tells assault trial of blood 'firing' from his brother’s arm

John Brennan testified at the assault trial of his brother William that the stab wound to his own chest was four and a half inches deep

William Brennan denies charges of assault causing serious harm to John Brennan and Jeremiah Brennan. File picture: Andy Gibson

A scene from a horror movie was how a Dunmanway man described the sight of blood "firing" from his brother’s arm after both he and his brother had been stabbed by another brother, who is on trial by judge and jury claiming he only acted in self-defence.

John Brennan testified he rushed out into the yard that evening to see blood pumping from Jerry’s arm and William then stabbed him.

“He had Jerry done and dusted. At that moment, he made a go for me. I felt it in my chest, like a light punch in my chest. I did not feel any pain. He could have come at us a thousand times, he could have gutted us like fish,” John testified on Tuesday, as he described running from the yard, helping his brother Jerry to get out, and being assisted by a man driving past in his van. 

John said he did not realise at that moment the stab wound to his own chest was four and a half inches deep.

32-year-old William Brennan, of Longbridge, Ballyhalwick, Dunmanway, Co Cork, is on trial at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, where he denies charges of assault causing serious harm to John Brennan and Jeremiah Brennan (junior), also known as Jerry, at the family home, both charges brought under Section 4 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act. 

William Brennan also denies a charge of producing a knife in the course of a dispute, all charges related to the date of August 17, 2024.

John Brennan testified: “Jerry was in shock. I said he [William] is going to kill both of us… I said to Jerry, you have to get out of here.

“My father [Jerry senior] was at the entrance to the yard. We ran for our lives out of the place… I asked my father for the keys of the car. I thought he [Jerry] was going to die. There was blood everywhere. My father would not give me the key. He said, ‘No, I’m not giving you the key’.” 

He said he and his brother Jerry owe their lives to the man who stopped his van and drove them away. He and the van driver, Tim Connolly, tied a belt around Jerry’s arm to stop the heavy bleeding. It hurt Jerry but John said to him: “Look, it might save you.” 

He said: “Jerry said to me: ‘Johnny, you are after being stabbed’. I said: ‘Yerra no, I don’t think so.’ I look down then and see a hole in the overalls.” 

Cross-examined by defence senior counsel Jane Hyland, John said he knew nothing about Willam’s excavator being set on fire that morning in Dunmanway and denied driving with Jerry, and passing their father, flicking cigarette lighters as they passed.

Ms Hyland put William’s version of events to the witness: “You came after him with an implement — probably a rake — and you struck him on the head a number of times. He put his hand up to defend himself. Jerry came from his right and started beating him to the neck?” 

John replied: “It sounds good from Willie’s point of view but that is not what happened.” 

Ms Hyland continued: “When he was attacked, he remembered there was a knife in his pocket and he waved it around hitting both of you once?” 

He replied: “No, that is not what happened… Are you supposed to be putting this down my throat or what.” 

During the cross-examination about disputed past events between the parties, John said: “My father attempted to cut my fingers off 12 months previously with … an angle-grinder.” 

Returning to the moment when he said his father would not give him the keys of the car after he and Jerry had been stabbed, John said through tears: “The father who reared me, who fed me, watered me, who did everything for me, he wouldn’t give me the keys to save my brother.” 

Ms Hyland said to John: “He [William] acted in self-defence to defend himself from you and your brother. You made up things against your father to cast him in a bad light.” He denied this.

John said after he and Jerry had been stabbed in the yard: “He [Willie] paused, almost as if he realised what he had done, almost as if [to say] ‘Oh shit, what have I done?’ Excuse the language, Judge.” 

The trial continues.