A young woman has told a jury in a manslaughter trial she found her boyfriend lying on the ground outside a pub totally disorientated and mumbling. "He said my name a few times and told me that he loved me," Ms Eve Nolan told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court.
The jury has also been told that the man charged with unlawfully killing her boyfriend struck him with his fist after asking him for directions because he thought the deceased was going to hit him.
Mr Keith Hayes (24), Aungier Street, Dublin, has denied the manslaughter of Mr Joseph O'Toole (22) outside the Purty Loft Bar, Old Dunleary Road, Dun Laoghaire, on July 26th-27th, 1998.
Ms Nolan told Mr George Birmingham SC, prosecuting, she and Mr O'Toole had made arrangements to go out separately with their own friends on that night. The two groups met at the Mad Hatters pub in Dun Laoghaire, where they decided to go to the Purty Loft.
Later Mr O'Toole decided to leave her with her girlfriends and go home to their shared flat. Shortly afterwards she found him lying on the road outside.
Ms Denise O'Sullivan, a friend of Ms Nolan, told Mr Tom O'Connell (with Mr Birmingham), prosecuting, she saw the accused hit Mr O'Toole with "good force" with his fist twice in the face outside the Purty Loft.
She said she shouted at the accused to let him go and when he did Mr O'Toole fell straight backward, hitting his head on the road.
The accused walked past her and away from the victim.
In reply to Mr Birmingham, Det Sgt John Jennings said the accused told gardai he was trying to get to a nearby Esso service station to have something to drink but got lost. He said when he asked Mr O'Toole for directions he took it the deceased man thought he was being smart and would not stop staring at him.
"He walked over towards me. I could see he was going hit me," the accused told gardai, Det Sgt Jennings said. He later told a friend he just kept walking and "didn't think much of it".
The trial continues before Judge Dominic Lynch and a jury.