One of two Dublin men accused of murdering a man in Blanchardstown told gardai he was sorry for kicking the victim, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
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 committing a violent disorder on the same date.
In a statement to gardai, Mr Doyle admitted kicking Mr Murray, possibly in the head, "at least once", Det. Garda Andrew O'Keeffe told the court.
Reading from the statement, which was allegedly given voluntarily and signed by the accused, Garda O'Keeffe said Mr Doyle had told gardai he was "very sorry for kicking the chap. I didn't mean him any harm. I feel sick about what happened and that is why I came to see you this morning."
In a memo allegedly given to gardai later, Mr Doyle said Mr Murray was assaulted because he "kept roaring". Mr Doyle's previous statement alleged that a man upstairs in the house was "mouthing off".
Asked by gardai who this man was, Mr Doyle allegedly said: "He was roaring at us to get out of the house in a very aggressive manner. He kept roaring at me. I kicked him. I lashed out at him. I was very drunk. It was the upper body I think, I caught him in the chest."
After the deceased was struck, he "fell on to the floor and said he'd had enough," the notes said.
Asked how many times he struck Mr Murray, Mr Doyle's notes said "once, possibly twice, definitely no more" and it was possible he kicked him in the head. "It's possible, I don't know. It was very dark and I was drunk."
The notes said Mr Doyle did not see blood on the floor of the bedroom where the man was assaulted because it was dark. Asked by gardai why his former girlfriend, Ms Caroline O'Connor, was asked to call for an ambulance, Mr Doyle allegedly told gardai that it was "because he [Murray] had been knocked to the ground and one of my mates was as white as a sheet so I figured they had hurt him as well."
The Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, told the court the man died from "blunt force trauma to the head" which had "imprints of footwear indicating he had been kicked in the head."
Ms Caroline O'Connor, of Parslickstown Green, was at her home at around 4 a.m. on the morning of January 15th, 1998, with Mr Murray lying asleep in an upstairs bedroom when the four men came into her house.
Mr Murray was killed after the four men entered Mr Doyle's former girlfriend's house and assaulted him.
Mr Doyle allegedly entered the house that night looking for a man believed to have been sexually molesting his daughter. The court had previously heard that Mr Doyle had a fixation that his daughter had been molested by someone, possibly the boyfriend of Ms O'Connor, and the purpose of the visit to the house was to punish whoever was responsible.
Dr Cassidy said Mr Murray died from "blunt force trauma to the head, associated with bleeding into the airways from a fracture to his nose and upper lip".
The trial before Mr Justice McCracken and a jury continues today.