A murder victim's short cut home led to his death, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Giving evidence, Mr Paddy Coffey, of Gallowsfield, Tralee, Co Kerry, said the accused man in the murder trial told him the deceased was "killed getting a short cut home" through waste ground near his home.
Mr Michael O'Brien (27), single and unemployed, of Gallowsfield, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr James Healy (16), of Shanakill, Tralee, at Monavalley Industrial Estate, Tralee, on or about February 22nd, 1997.
Mr Coffey also said his sister Elizabeth had accused the deceased of stealing £5 from her. When questioned about the money, Mr Coffey said Mr Healy promised to repay it on Friday after he received his wages. Mr Coffey told the court the money was never paid back because Mr Healy was murdered on that Friday.
Giving evidence, a cousin of the accused man, Ms Amanda O'Brien, said she met Mr Coffey on the Friday after Mr Healy's body was discovered and she and a friend had a conversation with him. Ms O'Brien said that she was scared of Mr Coffey at the time and that he kept "staring" at her and her friend.
Ms O'Brien said Mr Coffey told her that she and "John the Bobs [a nickname for Mr O'Brien] were getting blamed for this", the court heard. Ms O'Brien said Mr Coffey told her that he and another named man had been drinking with the accused man but wouldn't say where and that the other man had gone "on the run".
She said Mr Coffey told her that Mr Healy "wouldn't have got beat if he'd done what he was told. You don't know the full story."
Mr Coffey later told the court that he did say Mr Healy "wouldn't have got beat if he'd done what he was told" and that Ms O'Brien didn't know the "full story" but denied other remarks Ms O'Brien alleged he made. Asked by Mr Tim Bracknell, for the defence, if he knew the "full story", Mr Coffey replied: "I don't, to be honest."
During her evidence, Ms O'Brien said at one point she saw the named man in Rock Street, near the scene of the murder, putting a concealed package "about the size of a jacket wrapped in plastic" in a bin. She said she saw the named man lift refuse out of the bin, place his package in the bin and then put the refuse on top of his package. Ms O'Brien said she told her father, Mr Richard O'Brien, about the matter when she went home, and he subsequently informed the gardai.
Sgt John Murrihy, of Tralee Garda station, told the court that a few weeks after the murder, he saw the accused in the early hours of the morning in Tralee town and he pulled over to talk to him. Sgt Murrihy said Mr O'Brien told him he "hadn't slept" for 24 hours and that he looked tired.
"They all think I killed that young fella," Mr O'Brien allegedly told the sergeant. "A few people have said it to me. The guards will question me but I will be ready for them. People think Paddy Coffey was with me. I know who killed him. It was [a named man]. He had gloves, where are they?" the court heard.
Mr O'Brien and the deceased were allegedly associates who drank cider together occasionally.
The State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, told the court how Mr Healy had had 13 of his teeth knocked out, pieces of his jaw dislodged and 20 head injuries. Three-and-a-half of Mr Healy's teeth were later found lodged in his windpipe and lungs. Prof Harbison said he believed the teeth were inhaled, causing suffocation. Cause of death was as a result of suffocation, head injuries and shock.
The trial before Mr Justice Kinlen and a jury continues today.