Teenager begged for his life before stabbing, court hears

A teenage boy begged for his life before being stabbed to death with a blade from a garden shears, a murder trial heard on Wednesday.

Richard Dekker (30), with an address in the Blanchardstown area of Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 17-year-old Daniel McAnaspie at Tolka Valley Park, Blanchardstown, on February 26th, 2010.

At his trial at the Central Criminal Court on Wednesday, Det Patrick McDonagh told prosecuting counsel Brendan Grehan SC that he interviewed Mr Dekker several times on May 24th and 25th, 2010, at Cabra Garda station.

Daniel’s decomposed body had been found in a drainage ditch about a week earlier.

The garda said that, during those interviews, Mr Dekker at first denied all knowledge of what had happened to the teenager, but later said that he saw his friend, Trevor Noone, "viciously" stab Daniel.

Mr Dekker said Noone first stabbed Daniel in the back as they walked along the Tolka River.

He said Daniel fell down the river bank and begged: “Please, please lads, I’m dying.”

Mr Dekker said he also begged Noone to leave Daniel alone, but Noone insisted: “He has to go.”

Mr Dekker said the final stab wound was “vicious” and that Noone twisted the blade “to make sure he was dead”.

The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of seven women and five men.