A man accused of fatally stabbing another man said "of course" he had remorse for the dead man, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday in a witness statement.
Mr Valerij Makarov (25), also known as Andris Simonis, Earlsfort Drive, Lucan, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Tomas Lukosevicious (30), on May 11th, 2003, in Lucan.
The accused has also pleaded not guilty to causing intentional or reckless harm to Mr Aldevinias Gudavicious (34) and to threatening to harm Mr Jonas Bernotas (21) on the same date in Lucan.
In a statement of a Garda interview with the accused, read to the jury, Mr Makarov was asked: "In view of the fact that we have one person dead and one person seriously injured, do you have any remorse?"
"Of course I have remorse," Mr Makarov replied. "These people have parents. They were not firemen or policemen, they did not die in the line of duty. It hurts me to find out that they came to another country to die."
The court also heard evidence from Det Garda Ciaran Jackman, of the Garda Technical Bureau's fingerprint section, that there were no fingerprints found on the knife seized at the scene of the crime.
The court has heard that Mr Lukosevicious bled to death from nine stab wounds.
Defence counsel Mr Hugh Hartnett SC began closing submissions yesterday, which will continue this morning.