The girlfriend of Alan Higgins who was stabbed to death in Dublin nearly two years ago has told a jury today that she received a text message from his phone shortly after it had been stolen.
"At around 11.45pm, I received a text message from Alan's phone", the 17-year-old schoolgirl said.
The young girl who cannot be named for legal reasons received the text message in the presence of gardai at Beaumont Hospital while waiting on news of Mr Higgins.
The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Alan Higgins (17) of Carraroe Avenue in The Donaghies, Donaghmede on 13 October 2002 outside a cinema on Dublin's north side.
The accused also denies robbing the victim's mobile phone and a sum of cash on October 12th, 2002.
Mr Higgins's girlfriend told the jury that she arranged to meet Alan along with her friends at 8 p.m. at UCI Omniplex in Coolock on the night he was fatally stabbed.
Just after 11pm Mr Higgins told his girlfriend he was going to get the last bus home. His girlfriend yesterday said she wanted to walk with him to the bus, but Mr Higgins said "no, because he didn't want me to walk on my own, so I walked with him as far as the barrier", she said.
"I kissed Alan goodnight", she said.
A few minutes later accompanied by her friends, Mr Higgins's girlfriend "noticed a commotion outside the cinema".
"Someone said he had been stabbed and I got hysterical. I couldn't see him then because there were people in front of me", she said.
The young girl was shown parts of a red Nokia 3310 mobile phone in court saying her boyfriends mobile was "a Nokia 3310 with a red cover". She was then shown a wallet. Wiping back tears, the teenager said her boyfriends' wallet was "identical to this one".
Prosecuting counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan SC told the jury in his opening speech that this was a "very sad case".
"The deceased Alan Higgins was a mere 17 years of age at the time of his death. The accused is now only 17 and a half years of age and he was only 15 at the time of the incident", Mr Grehan said.
Alan Higgins, Mr Grehan SC said was born 23 March 1985 and came from Donaghmede where he lived with his parents and his older sister. He had just finished transition year, had a part-time job in a golf shop and wanted to study architecture when he finished school.
At 11.05pm Mr Higgins told his girlfriend and her friends that he was getting the last bus home because he was working the next day.
Addressing the jury of eight men and four women, Mr Grehan SC, said he walked outside with his girlfriend where he "kissed her good night".
"A short distance away Mr Higgins was set upon and mugged", Mr Grehan SC said. "He arrived back staggering to the front of the cinema, he was bleeding and coughing up blood", Mr Grehan SC said.
At 11.21 an ambulance arrived and Mr Higgins was brought to Beaumont Hospital within four minutes where doctors were on standby.
The court heard that Mr Higgins was taken "immediately to theatre but suffered a cardiac arrest and then another one".
Mr Grehan SC said; "Despite attempts to resuscitate him, he was pronounced dead at 3.10am on 13 October 2002".
The prosecution claims that the accused "took out a knife and stuck it into Alan Higgins' upper body. The accused did so when Alan Higgins was on the ground while the accused had two mates with him", Mr Grehan SC said.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Abbott tomorrow.