A Dublin man accused of murder told a jury in the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he stabbed a man to death out of panic after he was attacked by a gang of youths.
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, west Dublin.
Giving evidence, Mr Doyle said: "I don't remember how I stabbed him but I stabbed him. It was a mixture of fear and panic. Basically I was making sure he wasn't going to grab me."
After several pints in a pub, the accused and a friend, Mr Patrick Rogers, were walking back to Mr Doyle's girlfriend's house past the football pitch when they met a number of youths, he told the court.
"I was slagging him about rolling a joint and then asked where (another man) was. It was friendly," he said.
The other man had "given a hiding" to the brother of his girlfriend, he said. "I was going to tell him to leave him alone. I was going to warn him and if he wanted to fight I would've fought him," Mr Doyle said.
A second man then asked Mr Doyle if he was looking for him, to which Mr Doyle replied: "No, I don't know you. Why would I want to fight you," he told the court.
"He walked off and said `I'll be back. You wait'," he said.
Shortly after that the second man returned with another man, Mr David Bowes, who "said he knew me brother", Mr Doyle said.
"Twenty to 25 people were in a full circle around me and Patrick. David Bowes started getting aggressive. I was saying `You're after changing your tune' and I got hit on the back of me head. It was a severe blow," he said.
"It set me forward further into the crowd. They had weapons of some sort. Kicks and boots were flying. I came to me knees and then burst through the crowd."
"I was still dazed after getting whacked. I turned around to see where Patrick was and was whacked in the face with an iron bar. I couldn't see," he said.
"There were five of them around me but three of them were doing the main damage. One had two Stanley blades and started swiping for me," he said.
Doyle said he was still spitting blood days after he was assaulted and sustained a blow to the back of the neck. He had injuries to his lips, nose and cheek and had two black eyes. Asked by Mr Barry White SC, defending, about his friend at that time, Mr Doyle replied: "I knew they'd be killing him. I thought they'd be going around him with sticks and bars, probably stabbing him."
Mr Doyle said he escaped and ran to his girlfriend's house, into the kitchen and "I think I grabbed two knives." He put the knives in his clothing "so Carmel [his girlfriend's mother] wouldn't see them", Mr Doyle said.
"If I went back up [to the field] I could get Patrick.
"As soon as I got to the field I held them up so everyone could see I had them. When I got back up to the field I was out of breath and I was walking back up towards the group."
Two other people tried to restrain him saying "there's too many of them", he said, but he did not stop at that stage "because my friend was still down at the end of the field".
Mark O'Keefe was talking to a woman on the football pitch and "I didn't know he was part of the crowd till he started running at me," Mr Doyle told the court. The crowd were "screaming to him to grab me and that's when he came towards me. He faced me with his hands out to grab me," he said.
"I don't remember how I stab bed him but I stabbed him. It was a mixture of fear and panic. Basically I was making sure he wasn't going to grab me. I was sort of in shock," he said.
While in custody, Mr Doyle told one of the attending gardai that "the only reason I stabbed him was to save my friend," he said.
Defence witness Mr Brian McKenna told the court he saw a youth he did not know but who he later learned was Mr Patrick Rogers being viciously assaulted by a gang of youths at the door of a neighbour's home.
Giving evidence for the defence, Mr Rogers told the court that after being attacked by a circle of youths and escaping, he ran to a stranger's house and begged to be hidden under a bed upstairs.
"If they got hold of me they'd kill me," he said.
Mr Eamon Leahy SC, prosecuting, had earlier told the jury that after a fracas involving youths attacking Mr Doyle with metal bars and a Stanley knife, he fled the scene and later returned with long kitchen knives hidden in his clothing.
Mr Doyle then allegedly pulled the knives from his clothing and stabbed Mr O'Keefe a number of times, piercing the right ventricle of his heart. Some time after the incident, Mr Doyle took a train to Belfast, a ferry to Glasgow and an onward train to London, the prosecution alleged.
The trial before Mr Justice Kearns and a jury continues today.