Stabbed man had knife ‘embedded’ in his chest, murder trial hears

Alison Boyd was giving evidence in the trial of Gary Watson (35) who has pleaded not guilty to murdering former soldier Warren O'Connor (24) at Hole in the Wall Road, Donaghmede, Dublin on January 16th, 2010.

Mr Watson, of Millbrook Avenue, Kilbarrack, also denies assaulting Philip Woodcock (34) causing him harm on the same occasion and producing a knife to intimidate another person in the course of a dispute.

The trial has previously heard that a fight ensued between two groups of men after Mr Woodcock removed the fuse and cut power to his neighbour’s apartment so an allegedly “noisy house party” would end.

Ms Boyd told prosecution counsel James Dwyer SC that she lived in Newgrove Estate in Donaghmede, which faces onto Hole in the Wall Road.

She said she was on a computer in her front bedroom when she heard a “loud bang” outside. As she looked out the window, Ms Boyd said she saw two cars - one looked like a Ford Focus and the other car was dark in colour.

She said about five men in their early 20s got out of the Ford Focus and one of them went over and kicked the other vehicle.

‘Slumped’

Ms Boyd said she went to turn off the bedroom light and then returned to the window, where she saw about 10 people gathered at the railings outside.

“I saw someone slumped against the railings and someone shouted ‘he’s been stabbed’,” she said, adding that she phoned an ambulance.

She said three men ran in the direction of the Trinity Sports and Leisure Club. Ms Boyd said she grabbed two towels from her house before running outside to assist a man who was lying on his back with a friend “crouched down” beside him and another man present also.

Ms Boyd testified that one of the man’s friends could not get a pulse from him so she tried to get one before the paramedics arrived.

She told Mr Dwyer that the man who was lying on the ground had a knife “embedded” in his chest with the handle “snapped off”.

The knife was about two to three inches in width and “protruded” about two inches from the left-hand side of his chest, she said.

“It (the knife) looked like it was in his heart,’ she said, adding that the man was unresponsive.

‘Big bang’

Rachel Foy told Mr Dwyer that she lived in Newgrove Estate at the time and heard a "big bang" oustide while watching television in the front room. When she looked out the window, she saw two cars in the middle of the road including a silver Ford Focus.

Ms Foy said she went upstairs to her brother’s bedroom and she saw “a gang of people” standing on the footpath and on the road.

“I heard screaming and the name ‘Warren’ being shouted and then I heard ‘get it into him’,” she said, adding that she did not have difficulty hearing this.

The witness said she saw someone stab a man and he fell to the ground but she did not see who had stabbed him.

She said “a couple of boys” then ran towards Trinity Sports and Leisure Club and her neighbour who was a nurse came out of to help the man who was lying on the ground.

The trial continues.