A CO Kildare mother of five became distraught at the Central Criminal Court yesterday as she told how she was stabbed in the back by her former lover.
Mrs Angela Kelly wept as she told how Mr John Lammon, the father of two of her children, had stabbed her in the back as she ran away from him.
Mrs Kelly said a friend of hers, Mr Michael Doogue, had pulled Mr Lammon away from her and Mr Lammon had said: "I'm going to kill you, you f.. . ing whore".
She said she also saw Mr Lammon wrestling with Mr Doogue on the green nearby. She said Mr Doogue had put his hands up to his face and said: "Look what you've done to me, you f..ing bastard."
She said Mr Lammon was jealous of her friendship with Mr Doogue and had accused her of having an affair. Mr Lammon was a "very violent" man when drunk, she said he had beaten her and her children. He could have "a kind heart" but drink spoiled everything for him, she said.
Mrs Kelly was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of Mr Lammon (58), of Dooley's Terrace, Athy, Co Kildare, who has denied the murder of Mr Doogue (57), a single man from Kilcrow, Athy, in the Co Kildare town on May 24th, 1995.
The defendant has also denied unlawfully wounding Mrs Kelly (52), of Greenhills, Athy, on the same date with intent to cause her grievous harm.
In court yesterday Mrs Kelly told Mr Gregory Murphy SC, prosecuting, that she went out with Mr Lammon a few times before she went to England where she married, had three children, and remained for 16 years. Her marriage broke up after 13 years and she returned to Athy to live permanently in 1976. She moved to the Greenhills estate in Athy in August 1977.
Mrs Kelly said she started a relationship with Mr Lammon at Christmas 1976. Their first daughter was born in 1978 and their second in 1982.
She said she socialised with a number of women friends and they would sometimes go late to a pub in Athy. Mr Doogue also drank there and she knew him for many years and was friendly with him. He would drive them home on Tuesday and Thursday nights. She said there was no relationship between herself and Mr Doogue.
She said Mr Doogue had driven herself and two women friends home to Greenhills after midnight on May 23rd. He parked the car outside her home and the other two women got out. She said she remained in the car and was trying to get a photograph of herself from Mr Doogue which he had earlier taken from her and placed in his pocket.
Mrs Kelly said Mr Lammon appeared at the driver's side of the car and Mr Doogue opened the door and said, "How are you, Johnny?". She thought Mr Lammon's eyes looked "very wild" and his hair appeared as if it had been brushed up. Mrs Kelly said she got out of the car on her side and she ran. She saw Mr Doogue put his hands up to his face and say: "Look what you've done, you bastard."
Mrs Kelly said Mr Doogue told her to get help and she ran and Mr Lammon ran after her. She said she turned towards a nearby wall - "and he stabbed me in the back".
She wept as she told the court that Mr Lammon took her by the left shoulder and turned her round to face him. "I got a terrible fright when I turned ... I saw his hand in the air and that's when Michael Doogue pulled him back from me and Johnny said `I'm going to kill you, you f.. . ing whore'.
Mrs Kelly said she did not see any knife. She went over to a woman's house shouting: "I've been stabbed, I've been stabbed".
She said Mr Lammon and Mr Doogue appeared to be wrestling and when she looked back she saw Mr Lammon wiping his hands and then going away.
She met a woman and did not remember what happened after that because she became unconscious. Mrs Kelly said she lost a kidney as a result of the incident and also sustained other injuries.
Cross examined by Mr Barry White SC, defending, Mrs Kelly agreed she wanted to see Mr Lammon every opportunity she could before she went to England.
She denied she had started a serious relationship with Mr Lammon while home in Athy on holiday in 1967. She said she had no relationship with Mr Lammon until after her marriage broke up.
She agreed she had two children by Mr Lammon and he had stayed with her sometimes but said they had never lived together as husband and wife.
Mr Lammon was a very violent man through drink, Mrs Kelly said.
It was a lie to suggest that Mr Lammon babysat for her four or five times a week while she went to the pub, she said.
Mr Lammon was very jealous of her friendship with Mr Doogue and of anyone she spoke to, she said, and was "very dirty minded and very abusive". She said he accused her of having an affair with Mr Doogue and other men and accused her of being in compromising positions.
She said he called her a "whore", "prostitute" and "dirt bird" and told her children she was all of these. Mr Lammon would sometimes call to her home drunk and if he got in, would beat her and attack her children, she said. She often had to run into other people's homes and hide until he left. Gardai were called on several occasions, she said.
She agreed she could "stand up for myself" in arguments.
Mrs Kelly denied a suggestion by Mr White that on the night of May 23rd/24th, 1995, she had let her two women friends out of Mr Doogue's car first so she could be alone with him. She denied having close physical contact with Mr Doogue while in the car and when Mr Lammon came on the scene.
Mrs Kelly denied a suggestion that she got out of the car first and went round to Mr Lammon and there was a shouting match. She denied she had said to Mr Lammon she would "do to years for you".
The trial continues today before Mrs Justice McGuinness and a jury.