Mr Thomas McDonagh, the 29-year-old man accused of the manslaughter of his father in Listowel, Co Kerry, last September consistently told Garda what had happened was "an accident", Tralee Circuit Criminal Court heard yesterday on the second day of his trial.
Mr Jeremiah McDonagh (55) died from injuries two days after a chair leg went through his eye socket and damaged his brain during a row in his home.
Mr McDonagh, Moyderwell, Tralee, is pleading not guilty to the unlawful killing of his father, at his father's house in Bally-gologue Park, Listowel, on September 25th, 2002.
The dead man had 65 convictions which included larceny, assault and forgery. In later years most of the crimes were drink related, Garda Insp Martin McCarthy said.
His four children, including the accused, were put into care at an early age. Mr McDonagh had a very unhappy relationship with his father, his senior counsel Mr Brendan Nix told the court.
When he was 10 the State sent him to an industrial school in Galway, where he stayed until he was 15. He had returned to Listowel to start a new life and was hoping to rent a bedsit near the church at the time of the incident with his father. At one stage his father had offered to let him live in his house at Ballygologue Park. In the accused's statements to gardaí on the morning of the 26th, Mr McDonagh said he had been pushed by his father, who at one point had caught up a poker and held it over his son's head.
He had become upset in the course of the Garda interview. There was some suggestion the father had taken umbrage that Thomas had spent €30 and purloined an electric kettle, Mr Nix outlined.
Under cross-examination by Mr Nix, Det Sgt John Heaslip said that when asked by gardaí if he knew his father was in intensive care, Mr McDonagh had replied "I don't give a f... about him . . . I spent my life living in homes over him. He f....d up my whole life."
Mr Thomas McDonagh also said he "didn't plan any of this", he was still in shock at what happened and hoped his father would recover.
The court was told that the accused made three 999 emergency calls on the night of September 25th.
The case before a jury and Judge Carroll Moran continues.