Man gets life sentence for murder at Limerick pub in cocaine row

People carrying knives while drinking and taking drugs are an "affliction in Irish society" that results in far too many deaths, a Central Criminal Court judge has said as she passed sentence on a man convicted of a cocaine-fuelled murder in a quiet Limerick pub.

Ms Justice Tara Burns on Friday sentenced Mark Crawford (43) for the murder of Patrick 'Pa' O'Connor (24), saying that she has "no hesitation" in passing the mandatory life sentence for what she described as an act of "madness fuelled by drink and drugs".

She said that something has to be done about people carrying knives, adding: “A mixture of alcohol, cocaine and knives results in far too many deaths in this country”.

Crawford, of Quarry Road, Thomondgate, Co Limerick, was convicted last month by a unanimous jury verdict of the murder of Mr O’Connor at Fitzgerald’s Bar on Sexton Street in Limerick City on July 7th or 8th, 2018.

Crawford stabbed Mr O’Connor six times with two wounds to the heart and neck causing his death. It emerged during the trial that the men had met for the first time the previous day and had been taking cocaine together on July 7th. Tensions rose between the two men out of an argument over the drugs and Crawford claimed he was acting in self-defence, a claim that was rejected by the jury.

CCTV from minutes before the fatal stabbing showed the deceased dancing and laughing and joking with others in the bar where he was a popular regular. Ms Justice Burns said that this footage, showing Mr O’Connor “acting as always, full of banter and chat,” must have been the most difficult thing for the O’Connor family to watch. She described Fitzgerald’s as a quiet local pub where everybody seemed to know everybody and said the stabbing was a shocking thing for the regulars to have witnessed.

Mr O’Connor’s sister Deborah O’Connor on Friday told the court that it is 818 days since her family last saw Patrick’s face, “the last time we spoke, the last time we laughed together.” She described her brother as the kind of person everyone wanted to be friends with. “He knew everyone and everyone who knew him loved him,” she said. He got his jokes, kindness and love of banter from his mum and dad, she said, who are heartbroken at having buried their only son.

She added: “It was his welcoming, trusting and kindhearted nature that led to his murder, by a man he met less than 48 hours earlier. They were not friends.”

Outside court Ms O’Connor told the media: “Little did we know on the morning of Saturday 7 July 2018 it would be the last time we saw Patrick alive, the last time he would walk out the front door to never return. During the trial to learn of the horrific way Patrick died has been an incredibly distressing and difficult time for the family. To watch him on CCTV footage in the moments before he was murdered, acting his usual fun-loving self, has left us heartbroken.”

She said that while they will not get Patrick back the sentence gives some comfort. She described her brother as a really good person who loved life and was full of banter. Every day he came home from work he had a story to tell and was “always up for the craic”. She said her brother met Crawford less than 48 hours earlier and they weren’t friends. Her brother, she said, would talk to anyone who came to have a chat with him.

Crawford’s barrister Patrick McGrath SC read a letter to the court in which his client said he is sorry for what he has put the O’Connor family through and that he “never meant to kill him”. He added: “I regret it every single day. I know they wake up every day knowing Patrick is not here and I am so sorry for what I have done.”

Gda Declan O’Donovan told the court that Crawford has previous convictions mostly in the District Court. He has one conviction for assault causing harm and is awaiting sentence at the Circuit Criminal Court for a Section 15A drugs offence for possession of €24,500 worth of heroin.

‘Burnt for €100 Cocaine’

During the trial, Terence Roche testified that he was stocktaking in Fitzgerald’s Bar on the morning of July 7th, when Mr O’Connor came into the pub on his own around 11.30am.

Mr Roche said that Mr O’Connor came up to him later that day and said he had given somebody €100. He said Mr O’Connor was upset over the €100 and he told him to relax. The accused man arrived into the bar around 4.30pm that day, he added.

Jack McGrath testified that he was chatting to his friend Mr O’Connor on the night as he knew him from primary school. The witness said Mr O’Connor told him that he had been drinking for the day and backing horses in Paddy Power.

Mr McGrath said Mr O’Connor told him that he was “after getting burnt for €100 for cocaine”. “He was inquisitive if he was going to get the €100 or cocaine and what the end result would be,” explained Mr McGrath.

Mr McGrath said Mr O’Connor told him later on in the night that he had not received the cocaine and he was wondering what was going to happen. “I told him to relax and it would all sort itself out,” he added. Mr McGrath said that Mr O’Connor and the accused were sitting together by the door when he left the bar shortly before midnight.

Barman Cyril O’Connor gave evidence that he saw Mr O’Connor and the accused “arguing but in a whispered tone” during his shift at the bar and he heard €50 being mentioned. He noted that the atmosphere was “edgy” in the bar that evening. Describing the incident, he said: “All I heard was a chair move, there wasn’t a word, a shout or a scream. As I looked to the left I could see the accused striking Patrick in the neck area.”

Blood flowing

The barman testified that he saw the accused “rapidly” hitting Mr O’Connor four or five times and thought he was stopping a fight when he ran over to the men’s table. He said the defendant was leaning into Mr O’Connor and used his right hand to hit him as he [MR O’CONNOR]sat in the chair. The accused was making his move to leave the premises when he gave chase, he added. The witness said he locked the front door of the pub after the accused left and then saw Mr O’Connor lying on his side with “blood flowing away from him”. The witness said the deceased had two marks to his neck and was unconscious.

Defence counsel Patrick McGrath SC put it to the barman that he was mistaken about Mr O’Connor sitting in the chair and suggested that both men had “stood up to each other” before his client had stabbed the deceased a number of times as he had felt under threat. The witness denied this was the case saying: “It’s a photograph in my head of the accused holding Mr O’Connor and striking him.”

Furthermore, Mr O’Connor told Mr McGrath “all I have is that photo in my head of Mark striking Mr O’Connor. It wasn’t until after that I saw the horror that was done.”

Barmaid Pamela Stokes gave evidence that she heard a chair move behind her and turned around to see one person standing up and another individual sitting. “It just looked like an argument, like there was a fight. It looked like punching. I couldn’t say who was punching as I just saw the backs of two people,” she said. Ms Stokes said she called the ambulance as Mr O’Connor was injured on the ground and there was blood coming from his neck.

The wife of the accused, Karen Crawford, testified that she got a phone call from her husband on the night of July 7th, asking her to collect him from Fitzgerald’s Bar. She said he “sounded frightened, as if something was going to happen”.

Mrs Crawford said she drove to a laneway beside Fitzgerald’s Bar and her husband “staggered” down the lane with his hands out in front of him and “blood dripping” from them. He had nothing in his hands, she said, adding that he was crying and kept saying “Karen, Karen”. “I kept asking what happened and he said something bad,” she added.

Mrs Crawford testified that she asked her husband where they were going and he replied: “drive, drive”. The witness said he had a cut on one hand and she drove him to his sister’s house at O’Brien’s Bridge in Clare. The witness said she drove back home after bringing him to his sister’s house that night.

The following day, Mrs Crawford said that she went to look for her partner in Birdhill in Co Tipperary. “He was really upset and said ‘what am I after doing to that boy as he was my friend’,” she said. She told him that he needed “to hand himself in” but he said he “needed to get his head straight”. Mrs Crawford said she brought the accused to the Abbey Court Hotel in Nenagh and he handed himself into gardai the next day.

Paramedic David Hurley testified that he was notified of a stabbing at Fitzgerald’s Bar on July 7th around 11.55pm. Mr Hurley said he saw a male lying on his back surrounded by a large amount of blood when he arrived at the pub. He was unconscious and there were wounds to his neck, arm and chest, he said. The witness said he carried out some resuscitation to Mr O’Connor but to no avail.

Knife

In his interviews with gardaí, the accused said he had met Mr O’Connor in the bookies on July 6th and again the following day in Fitzgerald’s Bar, where they took cocaine together. “We got cocaine, I got the first one, we were having it between the four of us. I then gave him (Mr O’Connor) €20, he gave €50, we were getting it for €70,” he said.

The defendant said that Mr O’Connor told him later on that evening that he owed him a “oner” (€100). “I said I don’t. A fight started between us and he said I took his coke and I have to pay him a oner,” the accused told gardai.

The defendant said a knife was given to him by someone in the bar over not “being from that side” of the city. “The worst thing I done was took it [SIC]. The two of us got up to fight and whatever happened I took out the knife and stabbed him and ran out the door,” he added.

The accused told gardai that he felt like he was going to be beaten up and it had all happened so fast. “I just took it out and stabbed him. I didn’t realise what I’d done. We got up to fight over the coke. I thought I was going to get stabbed and beat up. I knew I’d done wrong” he added.

Crawford said he called a member of his family and told them there had been a fight in the pub and he had stabbed someone. The defendant said he wanted “the ground to open up and swallow” him when he later found out that Mr O’Connor had died. “I didn’t know what to do, I could not believe it,” he said.

Crawford told gardai that he had initially bought a gram of cocaine for €70 and when it was gone Mr O’Connor bought some more. “I gave him €20 for it. Pa started going on that I owed him a oner like,” said the accused.

The accused said he and Mr O’Connor had both stood up and “went for each other”. He said Mr O’Connor was standing in front of him and fell after he stuck the knife into him. “I just thought I’d give him a stab wound. I just kept going and when he fell I just ran,” he said.

Crawford told detectives that he thought he was going “to get jumped” and he “got the fear” when the argument started. He said he will never know why he took the knife from the “young lad” and had aimed for Mr O’Connor’s stomach. “I didn’t think I’d kill him. I did it more so he wouldn’t come back on top of me. I thought he was going to kill me, beat me or stab me.”