A Dublin man told gardai he "lost the head" and stabbed a heroin addict because he hated having drugs in his house, a murder trial jury was told yesterday. Garda Sgt Eugene Stapleton said Mr Dermot Byrne told him he took a syringe from Mr Bernard Smyth and put it in the fridge after he found Mr Smyth with the syringe in his hand trying to inject himself in the groin.
Mr Byrne said Mr Smyth started to "get thick" with him and wanted the syringe back but he told him he would not give it back to him as he hated drugs in the house. He then said he picked up an iron bar and hit Mr Smyth across the legs with it and picked up a knife off the floor and "lashed out at him with the knife".
"I also jabbed him in the stomach. I then threw the knife on the floor," he said.
"I am really sorry for what happened. I didn't mean to cause him any harm as he was my friend and I took him off the streets," he said.
The sergeant was giving evidence on the fifth day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court of Mr Dermot Byrne (54), Bath Street, Irishtown, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Bernard Smyth (46), a native of St Patrick's Villas, Ringsend, at Irishtown, Dublin, on October 29th, 1998.
The prosecution has claimed that Mr Byrne stabbed Mr Smyth after he took heroin at his house in Irishtown.
The court has heard that Mr Smyth, a drug addict who had been living rough, had been taken in by Mr Byrne and had been living at his house for about three weeks before his death.
The Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, has told the jury that Mr Smyth died from a stab wound coupled with a disease of the liver.
Det Garda Thomas Rock said he interviewed Mr Byrne at Irishtown Garda station on October 29th, 1998.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury of six men and six women.