A "new age" traveller denied that he and two other men intended to teach a Portuguese man a lesson when they beat him with an iron bar and left him to die in a field near their caravan site last year.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, a jury watched a video-recording of Mr Steven Job being interviewed by gardaí in Cobh Garda station following his arrest in connection with the death of Mr Sergio Abru (43).
Mr Job (31), of Whiting Bay, Ardmore, Co Waterford, and two other men, Mr Graeme Turnbull (36), with an address at Ballyhooley Road, Cork, and Mr Stuart Spicer (28), with an address at Ballyquin, c/o Ardmore Post Office, deny the murder of Mr Abru at Clashanahy, Ardmore, Co Waterford, between September 6th and 7th, 2002.
In the interview, Mr Job told gardaí that he heard noises outside his caravan late on the night of September 6th, and went outside, where he saw the co-accused men and Mr Abru's former partner, Ms Miriam Rooney, assaulting Mr Abru.
He said Mr Abru was curled up on the ground when he got to the scene.
"I told him to get up and go, I didn't want him there because of what he'd done to Miriam, he's not a very nice person," Mr Job told gardaí.
"I don't want that sort of person there, it's quite a laid back place," he added.
The court has already heard that Mr Abru had been released from prison in the months before his death. Ms Rooney, with whom he had a child, had begun a relationship with one of the accused, Mr Spicer, while Mr Abru was in prison.
On the night in question, Mr Abru had accompanied Ms Rooney, their young son and Mr Spicer to the caravan site. He was drinking in a caravan with Ms Rooney and a number of others when a fight broke out and he was assaulted outside the caravan.
Mr Job told gardaí that he didn't "kick the shit" out of Mr Abru, and only "hit him a couple of digs".
"I kicked him to try to get him to move, to go," he said. "He got lifted off the site."
Mr Job said the fight lasted 10 minutes, and agreed it was possible that Mr Abru had been "rendered senseless" by blows from an iron bar. He said he did not use the iron bar.
When asked by gardaí if he had decided with Mr Turnbull and Mr Spicer to "teach him [Mr Abru] a lesson", he replied "no".
Mr Job said he did not know why none of the group called an ambulance until the next day, and said that after Mr Abru had been dragged to a nearby field he returned to his caravan and slept.
The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice O'Higgins and a jury.