A man accused of murder told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he was not guilty of the crime and had "no reason" to kill. Mr William Campion (31), of no fixed abode but formerly of Pineview Gardens, Moyross, Limerick, has denied the murder of a Co Clare bachelor farmer, Mr Patrick "Paud" Skehan (68), of Bridgetown, O'Brien's Bridge, near Killaloe.
Mr Campion also denies burglary and trespassing into the home of Mr Skehan with intent to steal, between April 9th and 10th, 1998. Shoeprints in blood found at the scene, which are said to match a pair of black runners taken from the accused man, have been put forward by the prosecution as the main evidence in the case.
Asked by Mr Martin Giblin SC, defending, what he had to say to the charges of burglary and murder, Mr Campion said that he was "not guilty" and had "never done any of them".
Mr Campion said in evidence that he was at home with his wife on the night of the killing. The runners taken from him by gardai had been given to him by a friend of his cousin. "If I was after killing a man, I certainly wouldn't have had them on my feet," he said.
He told counsel that he swapped runners with other people "hundreds of times" and that, after swapping a pair of Adidas runners for a pair of FILA runners with his cousin's friend, he "thought nothing of it".
Mr Skehan was attacked during a robbery at his home between April 9th and 10th, 1998. When he was found by a neighbour on the morning of April 10th he was hanging upside down in his kitchen with a blood-stained blindfold over his eyes. He was dressed in a shirt and underpants and his hands and legs had been bound with television cable wire and a necktie to the bannister of a stairs. He had been doused with either petrol or another flammable liquid. Mr Skehan died in hospital on June 3rd that year.
The trial continues today.