The jury in the murder trial of a Mountjoy inmate has been shown CCTV footage of the fight that led to the death.
The five women and seven men today watched the footage of a 29-year-old Dublin man accused of murdering another man in Mountjoy Prison.
Declan O’Reilly of Parnell Road, Crumlin in Dublin has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 24-year-old Derek Glennon on June 25, 2007.
The jury heard from the Irish Prison Service’s Assistant Governor, John Farrell, who was chief officer for Mountjoy prison’s C and D wings at the time.
He said he noticed what he thought was horseplay in D1 about 5.40pm as the prisoners were being unlocked from their cells for evening recreation.
He explained that the footage showed Declan O’Reilly striking Derek Glennon in the chest and Derek Glennon responding with a kick. The fight moved away from the camera and a number of prison officers and inmates were seen running towards the commotion outside Cell 9, Mr Glennon’s cell.
The jury was also given a number of stills from the footage.
Mr Farrell said that when he arrived, both men were slumped in a corner outside the cell. He said Mr Glennon appeared to be the aggressor and seemed to have subdued Mr O’Reilly, who was hunkered.
Mr Farrell said Mr Glennon became violent when he and his colleagues began restraining him.
“I heard a shout from behind that he had a knife,” he said.
Mr Farrell said that in line with procedure, he then struck Mr Glennon once in the face to subdue him for the safety of staff and inmates, and they put him on his back on the floor.
“He simply said to me: ‘I’m stabbed’. He lifted his sweatshirt and I saw a wound”, recalled Mr Farrell.
He said he and a colleague walked the injured man through a gate, where he became weak. A prison officer carried out first-aid while they waited for an ambulance.
Mr Glennon was rushed to the nearby Mater Hospital but died there at 6.29pm.
The trial, which is expected to last a week, continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy.