Murder accused believed he should be jailed for life, garda says

A Co Clare man on trial for murder told gardaí­ that he deserved to spend the rest of his life in prison because the man he is alleged to have fatally stabbed was “going into a hole” in the ground.

Robbie Walsh (23), of Island View, Kilrush, Co Clare, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Karl Haugh (25) in the Marian Estate in Kilkee, Co Clare on August 6th, 2017.

The Central Criminal Court has heard that Mr Haugh and a number of his friends had a confrontation with Robbie Walsh and his cousins, Mitchell Walsh and Clinton Walsh, near Mr Haugh’s house, following heated phone conversations earlier.

The jury has heard that the altercation immediately followed the vandalism of a Volkswagen Passat under the misapprehension that it belonged to Mr Haugh.

Garda David King told Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, that he got a call at around 9.25am, hours after the incident, about windows being smashed at Robbie Walsh’s home.

As he arrived, he said Robbie Walsh’s mother told him she was “handing my son in”.

Garda King said he heard Robbie Walsh’s voice from inside the house and that he said something along the lines of ‘send me away for life’.

He said he arrested Robbie Walsh, cautioned him and put him in the patrol car. While en route to Kilrush Garda station, Robbie Walsh began to talk about the incident, Garda King said.

Cocaine

Robbie Walsh told the garda that he and Mitchell Walsh had called up to Mr Haugh’s house to buy cocaine but Mr Haugh was being “a bollox” so he and Mitchell got scaffolding poles and smashed up his car.

Garda King said the accused said he and Mitchell Walsh went around to a laneway behind the houses and that Mr Haugh was there and he had a knife.

Robbie Walsh told the Garda that Mr Haugh got into a fight and dropped the knife. He told the Garda that Mr Haugh grabbed him by the shoulders and pulled him in so ‘I stabbed him in the back, just stuck the knife in him’.

Garda King said he formally charged Mr Walsh with assault causing serious harm and in reply, Robbie Walsh said ‘nobody was meant to die that night’.

Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis told Mr Gageby that Mr Haugh’s death was caused by a single stab wound to the left side of the lower chest area, in his back. His lung was punctured and he suffered massive bleeding.

Bridget Haugh, Karl Haugh’s mother, told Mr Gageby that she was awoken early in the morning to news that her son had been hurt. She said she arrived at the A&E at Limerick University Hospital and got to see him.

She said her son was to be transported to hospital in Cork and they were on the road when they got a phone call to say his condition had deteriorated, and they should come back to Limerick. By the time they arrived back to Limerick, they had learned that he had died.

She said that when she spoke to Mr Haugh, he kept telling her that he was going to be okay.

The trial continues.