A man died from blunt force trauma caused by 13 blows to the head and face from either weapons, punches or kicks, the opening day of a murder trial was told in Cork yesterday.
Patrick McCarthy SC, prosecuting, said Sergio Abreu (45) suffered blows to the scalp and face as well as two skull fractures during the beating he received at Clashanahy, Ardmore, Co Waterford, in September 2002.
A Briton, Stuart Spicer (32), went on trial yesterday for the murder of Mr Abreu, a Portuguese national, after he was arraigned and pleaded not guilty to the charge before Mr Justice Paul Carney at the Central Criminal Court which is sitting in Cork.
Outlining the State's case against Mr Spicer before a jury of five men and seven women, Mr McCarthy said two other men, Stephen Job and Graham Turnbull, had already been convicted of manslaughter in relation to Mr Abreu's death.
However, the case against Mr Spicer could be distinguished from the case against the other two men by the specific intent involved in his part in the attack.
The attack happened after a visit by Mr Abreu to Mr Spicer's mobile home at Clashanahy, near Whiting Bay, on September 6th, 2002. Mr Abreu had arrived in Youghal and spent the day with a friend, Miriam Rooney, who is the mother of his child. They had some drinks before catching a taxi to the caravan of Mr Spicer, with whom Ms Rooney was then in a relationship.
They had some flagons of cider and were joined at the caravan by a number of other people, including Job and Turnbull.
Initially things seemed to go well, but close to 10pm a row erupted between Mr Abreu and Turnbull, said Mr McCarthy.
Mr Abreu and Turnbull went outside. A fight started and Job and Mr Spicer - who had put on a pair of steel-capped boots - went out of the caravan to join in. "Mr Abreu was on the ground and trying to get away from Turnbull. Spicer joined in," said Mr McCarthy.
He said the State would argue that Mr Spicer made a conscious decision to put on the steel-capped boots before joining the fight. "We say that there was no self-defence because there was no necessity at all for him [ Mr Spicer] to join in.
"We say the distinguishing feature of this is the use of the steel boots and the injuries sustained from the use of these. He kicked him with steel-capped boots which caused the injuries. All the injuries together caused the death of Mr Abreu."
Mr McCarthy said that after Mr Abreu was subdued or knocked unconscious, he was dragged some 200 yards up a laneway and deposited in a field, where his body was found the next morning by the emergency services. The trial is expected to last until Friday.