Description of beating was `exaggerated'

A former heroin addict told the Special Criminal Court yesterday that he had "exaggerated" when he described on RTE television…

A former heroin addict told the Special Criminal Court yesterday that he had "exaggerated" when he described on RTE television how a friend, Mr Josie Dwyer, had been killed during an attack by anti-drug activists.

Mr Alan Byrne conceded that his description of Mr Dwyer's chest being "shattered" with a lump hammer was "an exaggeration". The court viewed excerpts from an RTE Prime Time documentary on the drug problem in Dublin's inner city which was made after Mr Dwyer's death.

Mr George Bermingham, prosecuting, has told the court that Mr Dwyer and Mr Byrne were attacked in "an assault of some ferocity that involved punches, kicks and the use of weapons" by a group of men after an anti-drugs meeting in Dolphin's Barn. Mr Dwyer, a heroin addict who was HIV-positive, died from a ruptured spleen shortly afterwards.

It was the third day of the trial of three Dublin men, Mr Bernard Dempsey (41), Marrowbone Flats, Mr Stephen Carney (25), Dolphin House, Rialto, and Mr Ronald Byrne (40), Cremona Road, Ballyfermot, who have pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter of Josie Dwyer (41) at Basin Lane, Dublin, on May 14th, 1996. They also deny assaulting Mr Byrne, causing him actual bodily harm.

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The trial continues today.