A MAN is to be sentenced on Friday for withholding information on the murder of David Whyte, who was stabbed 100 times and left in a cemetery in Dublin.
Mr Whyte’s body was discovered by a passing dog-walker in a pool of blood in undergrowth off Mill Lane, Palmerstown, in September 2009.
He remained unidentified for a number of days, until gardaí released his picture in a television appeal and family members recognised him.
Simon Griffin (55), Ballyfermot Road, pleaded guilty last November to impeding the Garda investigation into the killing, knowing or believing that another person had murdered Mr Whyte.
During Griffin’s sentence hearing at the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Garda Det Sgt Denis Smith said that Griffin was present when Mr Whyte (35) was stabbed repeatedly by a man known to the court as Mr X.
Mr X had been at a party in Griffin’s bedsit on September 24th, 2009, when he pulled out a knife and began making threats. He was persuaded to leave the party. He encountered Mr Whyte outside on the street, who was “entirely innocent” and heavily intoxicated from a night out.
Mr X believed Mr Whyte had been watching him and pulled out his knife, stabbing him several times. Griffin arrived on the scene having followed Mr X out of the party and witnessed the attack.
Mr X screamed at him to stay with the injured man while he went and got a van. He then told Griffin to help put Mr Whyte into the back of the van and they drove in the direction of Palmerstown.
Griffin helped to drag Mr Whyte into the derelict cemetery and later described to gardaí how Mr X resumed “stabbing him to pieces” and then invited him to join in asking if he wanted to stab him too.
Griffin said he refused. Mr X then gave him the dead man’s phone and told him to destroy it. He was also present when Mr X set fire to the carpet in the van.
Griffin told gardaí he first followed Mr X’s orders because he threatened to kill his girlfriend and he was terrified. He said that later in the night, Mr X also threatened to kill him if he told anyone what had happened.
Griffin and his girlfriend left their bedsit soon after, as Mr X lived in the same building, and went to stay with a friend, in whom Griffin confided. His friend eventually went to gardaí and made a statement and Griffin was arrested in April 2009.
Mr Whyte’s father, sister and brother-in-law were in court for the hearing and their victim impact statements were read out on their behalf by Paul Coffey SC, prosecuting.
Mr Justice Paul Carney is due to sentence Griffin on Friday.