A YOUNG Dublin man accused of murder told a friend he “couldn’t believe what he’d done”, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday. Mark Green (20), Tritonville Road, Sandymount, Dublin 4, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Alan Young (19), George Reynolds House, Ringsend, at or near Brennan Road, Irishtown, on March 11th last year.
Mr Young was found near Irishtown sports stadium with a stab wound in his chest.
David McKeever (17), a friend of both the accused and the deceased, told prosecuting counsel Patrick Gageby SC that he, Mr Green and some other friends had been drinking at his house when Mr Green got a phone call and said that he was going to the Irishtown House pub.
Mr Green returned at about 12.30am and told Mr McKeever he was “annoyed because Alan Young had slapped him across the face”. “He said he was sick of everyone starting on him in Ringsend.” Mr McKeever told the jury that he and Mr Green then began “fooling around” outside on Mr Green’s moped. He said that he came off the bike and left it on the ground when Mr Young, Erika Nangle and a number of others arrived.
“Alan and Erika started on Mark. There was scuffling, punching and all. I saw Alan punching Mark and blood on Mark’s mouth.
Mr McKeever said that the accused “did not fight back” and that, after the row, he went back to the McKeever house while Mr Young went back over to “the Drain”, a nearby laneway.
He said that Mr Green returned and told Ms Nangle to get Mr Young. “He said something like ‘his life won’t be worth living’.” Mr Young then came over and, after Ms Nangle and others told him to repeat what he had said, Mr Green told Mr Young that his “life wouldn’t be worth living.”
“They got into a little argument and walked a few yards away from us.” Mr McKeever said that when he turned around, he saw Mr Young walking toward him. “He had his hand held up to his chest and said, ‘He’s after stabbing me ’. I could see blood on him.” He walked over, looked in the door and saw Mr Green standing there. “He said, ‘I can’t believe what I’ve done’.” Mr McKeever told defence counsel Brendan Grehan that the accused “always got picked on”. “He’s a softie,” he said.
Eoin Deeney told Mr Gageby that he was with Mr Young, a friend of his, on the night of the alleged murder. He told the jury that he did not see Mr Young being stabbed but that he saw him put his hand up to the left side of his chest. Mr Deeney said that he saw Mr Green with a “very large knife in his hand”.
Mr Grehan said to Mr Deeney that he told gardaí in a statement he saw Mr Young “slap Mr Green across the face” in Irishtown House on the night of the alleged murder. Mr Deeney disagreed. He told the court that Mr Young “pushed Mark Green on the shoulder”. He also said to Mr Grehan that the accused is “quite a troublemaker”.
The trial continues today.