One of two Dublin men accused of murder admitted being in the house where the victim was kicked to death. However, he denied taking part in the assault, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Det Insp John Dennedy said one of two men accused of murdering a Dublin man told gardai he went to the house where the killing happened after the other accused "wanted to do a fellow who molested his child".
Mr Stephen Doyle (24), of Balcurris Road, Ballymun, and Mr William Broderick (22), of Cathedral View Walk, both deny the murder of Mr John Murray at a house at Parslickstown Green, Mulhuddart, Dublin, on January 15th, 1998. They also deny violent disorder on the same date.
Mr Broderick told gardai in a statement that after a night out at a dance club, he, Mr Doyle and two other men drove to Mulhuddart after Mr Doyle said he wanted "to do a fellow who molested his child and asked me [and other men] to go with him".
In the statement, i, Mr Broderick admitted entering the house and going up the stairs, but said he went into a box room at the front of the house from where he "heard shouting and stamping on the floor" and curses.
Reading from Mr Broderick's statement, Det Insp Dennedy said he told gardai he later entered the darkened room where the victim had been assaulted and felt for a pulse. "I felt a faint pulse. He was unconscious, knocked out. I pulled him up by the arms and put him in the recovery position and put a duvet behind him" to support him in case he fell backwards. "I noticed blood on the wall and ground."
The court had previously heard that Mr Doyle went to the house that night looking for a man he believed to have been sexually molesting his daughter, about which he allegedly had a fixation.
The Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, had previously said Mr Murray had died from "blunt force trauma to the head".
Mr Justice McCracken sent the jury of six men and six women home to allow for legal argument and asked it to return on Monday.