A DOCTOR told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that a man charged with murder came to her the morning after the fatal stabbing of a Balbriggan man and told her: "I think I might be in deep trouble."
Dr Aine Rowley said Mr Alan Rooney told her he had had a scuffle with Mr David Hammond the previous night. He had said he couldn't remember anything else but he "knew he wouldn't kill him".
Dr Rowley was giving evidence in the trial of Mr Rooney (28), of Curran Park Balbriggan, who has denied the murder of Mr Hammond (24), also of Curran Park, in the town on April 27th, 1996.
Dr Rowley told Ms Maureen Clark, prosecuting, that on April 27th, 1996, in Balbriggan she was shown the body of Mr Hammond. He had a small stab wound to the left side of his chest and had died very recently. She pronounced him dead at 1.36 a.m. At 10 a.m. on the same day, Mr Rooney had called to her surgery and had a conversation with her which she noted.
At the end of the conversation, she had phoned the Garda at Mr Rooney's request and they arrived shortly afterwards and spoke with Mr Rooney. He had told her: "What if I did, do it? My mother would kill me.
The trial resumes on Monday.