Irishman faces retrial over death of Kenny Meyler in Australia

A man who admitted killing fellow Irishman Kenny Meyler in Western Australia last year will be retried next May.

Vincent Martin Crowe (34) confessed to stabbing Mr Meyler in the neck at an apartment in the Perth suburb of Scarborough on February 10th, 2013.

He pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but this was not accepted by the state prosecution, which insisted on a murder charge.

The jury was unable to reach a verdict following a two week trial in the Western Australia supreme court last month .

Mr Crowe was originally charged with grievous bodily harm with intent, but the charge was upgraded to murder when Mr Meyler (21) died in hospital a week after the incident.

During the trial, the court heard that Mr Crowe began drinking in bars the night of February 9th and then went to a nightclub where he took ecstasy, drank more alcohol and met Mr Meyler through a mutual friend.

At about 4am Mr Crowe allegedly took a drug called mephedrone in the apartment where a party was going on.

After Mr Crowe and others slept for a period, the party continued into the afternoon of February 10th. At about 1pm, there was a verbal dispute between Mr Crowe’s friend David Murphy and Mr Meyler, but they shook hands shortly after.

A witness from the party, Michael Lonergan, testified that things had then been calm. “Everyone seemed fine, everyone was chatting,” he said.

Prosecutor David Davidson told the court at about 2.30pm Mr Crowe took a knife and “walked to where Kenny was sitting and thrust it with force into the right side of Kenny’s neck”.

Mr Crowe’s defence barrister, Judith Fordham, said her client accepted his actions caused the death of Mr Meyler but that “he does not remember what he did”.

She said Mr Crowe was “filled with remorse”, and had struggled with alcoholism and drug abuse.

Mr Crowe will face a new trial from May 19th, 2015.

He has been remanded in custody and will appear in court for a status conference on February 5th.