Woman witnessed men fighting with hammers on day before fatal stabbing, murder trial hears

A woman witnessed a fight between two men armed with hammers on the day before a 25-year-old was fatally stabbed in the neck in a row over a debt and a stolen scooter, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard.

John Titiloye (28), with an address at Mac Uilliam Crescent, Fortunestown, Tallaght, Dublin 24, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ademola ‘Dizzy’ Giwa (25) in the Mac Uilliam Road area on August 10th, 2021. Mr Giwa was from Mac Uilliam Parade in Tallaght.

Martina Wade told John Byrne SC, prosecuting, that she had parked her car at the Mr Price store in Kiltipper, Tallaght on the evening of August 9th, 2021, and noticed around six males in their early 20s standing around the vehicle.

“I was kind of blocked in and couldn’t leave,” she said.

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Ms Wade said she then observed some people getting out of a black Ford Mondeo car. She said the two groups began fighting with each other and there were “hammers involved on both sides of the fight”. She said “blows were being struck” by two of the “lads”.

“One of them looked like a claw hammer and the other like a mallet hammer,” she continued.

The witness went on to say that the two men were striking each other with the hammers.

“I did see one of them swiping into a black car with a hammer,” she said.

Asked by Mr Byrne how close she was to the incident, the witness replied “too close”. She said she was upset at what was going on and waited until the black car left before she got out of her own car.

Waiting

Under cross-examination, Ms Wade told Brendan Grehan SC, for Mr Titiloye, that the group of men seemed to be waiting for someone or something before the black car arrived.

She said the man with the claw hammer was not that tall. Asked by Mr Grehan if she heard anyone refer to this man as Samson, the witness said she did not know.

She said the man who got out of the black car was holding a square mallet hammer and had some kind of altercation with the man holding the claw hammer. She also agreed that the man with the claw hammer was trying to hit another man inside the car. She said she had not heard any conversation about a scooter.

Opening the murder case to the jury on Monday, Mr Byrne said Mr Giwa was fatally stabbed in the neck in Tallaght in a row over a small debt and a stolen scooter by Mr Titiloye. The 12 jurors were also told that it was the accused’s position that he was in possession of a knife for self defence and having initially walked away from the altercation, he returned to protect his father, who sustained a stab type injury to the eye.

Another witness, Chantelle McAlone, from Mac Uilliam Lane in Tallaght, told the court on Tuesday that Mr Titiloye came to her house on August 9th with a black electric scooter. She said the accused asked her would her partner look at the scooter as the throttle was broken. Her partner was not in the house at the time, so the accused left the scooter with her.

‘Nice fella’

Her partner Jason Cousins told the jury that a Kugoo scooter was in his house when he got home on August 9th. He said the accused was his friend and used to work fitting blinds for him. Under cross-examination, he told Mr Grehan that the accused was “a nice fella” and never gave him any trouble.

The jury also viewed CCTV and mobile phone footage of Mr Titiloye, his father Anthony, Mr Giwa and Samson Fayemi engaging in a physical and verbal altercation in the Mac Uilliam Road area in Tallaght around 6.45pm on August 10th, 2021.

At the end of the altercation, Anthony Titiloye had an injury to his eye and is seen holding a towel to it. Garda Brian Law also identified the moment Mr Giwa collapsed in the street.

Under cross-examination, Garda Law agreed with Mr Grehan that Anthony Titiloye had engaged with Mr Fayemi and Mr Giwa in the altercation, that they were trading blows and that was when the accused ran in.

Knuckle duster

Asked if it was possible that Mr Giwa had a knuckle duster on him during the fight, the guard said it was possible but he could not see it in the footage.

Further CCTV footage showed a black Ford Mondeo car driving towards Lucan village at 4.55pm on the evening of August 10th before Mr Titiloye and another man entered an angling and shooting shop. In his opening address, Mr Byrne said a knife was purchased by Mr Titiloye in an angling and shooting shop in Lucan on that afternoon.

Mr Byrne said Mr Titiloye and Mr Giwa had been friends at one stage, having gone to school together and grown up on the same street. He said a man by the name of Samson Fayemi owed a small bit of money to the accused Mr Titiloye and it had become “a source of tension” between them. 

Counsel said that Mr Fayemi’s scooter was forcibly taken by a number of men including Mr Titiloye “to settle the debt” on August 9th, the day prior to the killing, at Marlfield Estate in Tallaght.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of six men and six women.