A MAN charged with murder said he hoped that the "fat bastard" was dead after his car mounted the pavement and struck a man walking with his wife and daughter, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mr Paul O'Higgins SC, prosecuting, said the comment would leave the jury in no doubt that Mr Anthony McLoughlin intended "at least" to cause serious injury to Mr Paschal Corcoran.
Mr Corcoran, a father of three, received severe head injuries when hit by the car and died two days later in hospital, Mr O'Higgins said.
Counsel was opening the trial of Mr McLoughlin (40), of Dolphin House, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Corcoran, also 40, of St Mark's Drive, Clondalkin. The defendant has also pleaded not guilty to assaulting Mrs Marion Corcoran.
In court yesterday Mr O'Higgins said there was "significant bad blood" between the Corcorans and McLoughlins in 1994. He said that Mr and Mrs Corco and their nine year old daughter, Joanne, left their house on the afternoon of June 9th, 1994, to vote in the European election. As they left, the defendant also came out of his home in St Mark's Drive and got into his car.
Counsel said the Corcorans were walking on the pavement down the road. Mr McLoughlin drove down the road, did a U-turn, came back on the wrong side of the road, mounted the pavement and drove at the Corcorans, hitting Mr Corcoran who smashed into the windscreen.
The car went on and came to a stop. Mrs Corcoran ran over and there was a struggle between her and the defendant's wife, counsel said. Mr McLoughlin then got out of his side of the car and hit Mrs Corcoran, knocking her to the ground.
Mr McLoughlin was restrained by two residents of the road from getting back into his car. In the course of that, Mr McLoughlin said he hoped the "fat bastard" was dead, according to Mr O'Higgins.
The prosecution was contending that this remark was significant and that Mr McLoughlin deliberately and intentionally drove his car at the Corcorans.
Counsel said Mr McLoughlin had told gardai that he had lost control of his car and it had mounted the pavement and there had been nothing he could do. The State did not accept that explanation.
Mrs Marian Corcoran said the car went down the road, turned at the end and came back on the wrong side. Then she saw the car on the pathway in front of her and it appeared to be stopped. Then it started to drive slowly. She said she thought Mr McLoughlin was trying to frighten them.
"Before I knew it he ran straight into Paschal," she said.
Cross examined by Mr Gregory Murphy SC, defending, Mrs Corcoran agreed that rows between the children were the source of differences between her family and the McLoughlins. She agreed that other residents on the road did not get on with the McLoughlins, and that the corporation had been asked to evict the family.
She said the McLoughlins had appealed to the corporation against eviction and she believed that in June 1994 they had been given another six months in the road. She agreed there was a general antipathy towards them.
She rejected a suggestion by Mr Murphy that her recollection of the events of June 9th 1994 was coloured by her dislike of the McLoughlins. "I've told the truth," she said.
She could not say what speed Mr McLoughlin's car was travelling at when it hit her husband, Mrs Corcoran said. She did not accept that there were a number of reasons for the car being on the footpath.
Mr Pat Cook said he was in his home in St Mark's Drive on June 9th, 1994, when he heard a car revving and sounds like tyres squealing. He then heard a thump and saw a body rolling off a car.
He went outside and saw a scuffle between Mrs Marion Corcoran and the wife of the defendant. He said that Mr McLoughlin walked over to Mrs Corcoran and punched her in the face and she fell to the ground.
Mr Cook said he moved to prevent Mr McLoughlin getting into his car and going off. "I said, look what you've done to that man, and he said to me, I hope the fat bastard's dead."
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Kinlen and a jury.