A Co Wicklow man told a murder trial jury yesterday that he was "afraid for his life" when he stabbed his father to death during a violent struggle at their home.
Mr Thomas Heaney said he was afraid his father was reaching for a knife and was going to stab him.
He was being cross examined by prosecuting counsel, Mr Joseph Matthews SC, at the Central Criminal Court on the sixth day of his trial.
Mr Heaney (28), an electrician has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his father Mr Peter Heaney (59), a fitter, at their home at Marian Villas, Arklow, Co Wicklow on October 9th, 1994.
Mr Heaney was stabbed nine times through the chest and abdomen, one of the stab wounds passing through his heart.
On Friday, Mr Heaney admitted he had stabbed his father after they had a row. Mr Heaney said he had rows about a relationship his father had formed with a married woman after his wife died.
Mr Heaney told Mr Matthews yesterday that after he had stabbed his father in the abdomen he appeared to be dead. But later his father had grabbed him when he tried to check him for a pulse. Mr Heaney said he had stabbed him to death with a knife that he was trying to keep away from his father.
"I feared he was reaching for the knife on the coffee table. I had the knife behind my back. I was afraid for my life. I was afraid my father was going to stab me," he said.
Mr Heaney said he was certain that he had a conversation with a garda at Arklow Garda station after he had made an emergency call seeking help for his father. He said he asked for an ambulance and had been switched through to the Garda station.
Mr Heaney said his father had been awake when Mrs Anne Killeen had left the house in the early hours of October 9th. He said he heard his father say to Mrs Killeen: "Don't go."
When asked how he felt about his father's relationship with Mrs Killeen, Mr Heaney replied: "My father had his own life. It was up to him to live it the way he wanted. I didn't approve of his relationship with Mrs Killeen because she was a married woman."
Mr Heaney said he had caused all the injuries to his father. He disagreed with a suggestion by Mr Matthews that he had hit his father over the head with a blunt instrument before stabbing him.
Garda Vincent Whelan told Mr Matthews that he was the member in charge at Arklow Garda station on the night of October 8th/9th, 1994. He said he had received three calls from members of the public at 1.45 a.m., 1.47 a.m. and 1.48 a.m. Garda Whelan said the calls all related to an incident at the Heaney house but he said he had not received a call from the accused man that night.
The jury will hear closing speeches from the prosecution and defence today.