A 32-year-old man was sent 12 text messages by his girlfriend warning him to stay away from her ex-boyfriend because there was trouble brewing.
Ms Samantha O'Brien sent the messages to Mr Isuf Kryzi, a.k.a. Ismet Ceka, an Albanian Kosovar with an address at Manor Street, Waterford, on the day he fatally stabbed her former boyfriend in a row on the street.
Mr Kryzi has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Thomas McAuley (44), Farrington Court, Ardoyne, Belfast, on August 13th, 2001, at Manor Street, Waterford.
On the second day of Mr Kryzi's trial at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Det Sgt Terry Butler read the messages to the jury. One said: "You know I love you . . . I don't want to argue, that's all he [the deceased\] wants is to cause trouble between us."
She continued: "He could say you're hitting his child," and later told Mr Kryzi that Mr McAuley wanted to meet him, but begged him not to go saying: "He's going crazy now".
Det Sgt Butler told Mr Edward Comyn SC, for the prosecution, that shortly after the stabbing he and a number of gardaí apprehended Mr Kryzi on a street not far from the scene.
"The defendant put his hands up into the air and said, 'I have killed someone, I know, I know, I know, I have killed someone, my girlfriend's ex-boyfriend'," Det Sgt Butler told the court.
Mr Kryzi told gardaí he had begun a relationship with Ms O'Brien when her relationship with Mr McAuley ended. She and Mr McAuley had a five-year-old daughter.
"Tony [the deceased] didn't like this, he got jealous, he told me he'd kill me," he told gardaí.
On the day of the killing, he met Mr McAuley on the street outside a pub. "He asked me to come to the car park, he put his hand into his pocket and I thought he was going to harm me," he continued.
"I hit him with a knife I had in my pocket, I also kicked him and he fell to the ground. I do not know how many times I hit him".
When gardaí charged Mr Kryzi with the murder he replied, "I did not go there with the intention to kill him. I didn't want to kill him, but I was told that he died."
The Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, said Mr McAuley was struck six times with a knife. The trial continues.