A jury will retire today to consider its verdict in the trial at the Central Criminal Court of a Dublin man accused of murdering another man by stabbing him through the heart.
Mr Michael Doyle (22), of Ton duff Close, Greenpark, Greenhills, Tallaght, has denied the murder of Mark O'Keefe (20), on May 30th, 1997, at a football pitch in Tallaght, Dublin.
The court previously heard that after Mr Doyle and a friend were attacked by a gang of youths with blades and metal bars, he ran to his then girlfriend's house, got knives from the kitchen and ran back to the gang, allegedly to save his friend.
Summing up for the defence, Mr Barry White SC told the jury to "try and get into his [Mr Doyle's] shoes".
Describing the gang of youths who attacked the accused as "hounds baying for blood", Mr White said when they gave evidence, they told the court they "regretted they hadn't done more".
He said defence witness Ms Carmel Gaffney told the court that after the gang set upon Mr Doyle, he appeared "stunned or shocked" and was muttering about having to get back to his friend.
"If Mr Doyle was coming in here to lie to you to seek to pull the wool over your eyes, if he wanted to paint the worst picture of the opposition and the best picture of himself, wouldn't he say `Mark O'Keefe had already beaten me up'," he said. "It's a measure of the man and the honesty of the man before you." Mr White said it would be "self-serving" for Mr Doyle to say Mr O'Keefe had attacked him previously, "but that's not what he says".
"You have seen the attitude and demeanour of the prosecution witnesses. Are they telling the truth or seeking to tell the truth or seeking to paint Mr Doyle in the worst possible light?" Mr White urged the jury to find Mr Doyle guilty of manslaughter and not guilty of murder.
In his summing up, Mr Eamon Leahy SC, prosecuting, told the jury to consider why Mr Doyle did not run away when Mr O'Keefe approached him.
"What was the accused's state of mind?" he asked.
Mr Leahy asked was Mr Doyle's state of mind one of panic, where he lost control, or that of wanting to fight, looking for revenge.
"If he was simply afraid, Mark O'Keefe was going to catch him," Mr Leahy said, then why did Mr Doyle deliver a "repeated stabbing" to Mr O'Keefe. He said Mr Doyle "chose not to leave that pitch until he inflicted those injuries". The stabbing had the "hallmarks of returning to the pitch to take revenge", he said.
Following a fracas involving youths attacking Mr Doyle and another man with metal bars and a Stanley knife, Mr Doyle fled and later returned with kitchen knives hidden in his clothing, the court heard previously. He then pulled the knives from his clothing and stabbed Mr O'Keefe several times, piercing his heart.
Mr Justice Kearns will deliver his charge to the jury today before sending it to consider its verdict.