A DETECTIVE garda has reiterated his evidence in the case of two brothers accused of murdering a Co Offaly farmer, telling the Central Criminal Court he heard one of the accused say: "I hit him, you can arrest and charge me," when he arrived at the scene.
Det Garda Pat Lyne was giving evidence in the trial of Daniel Joseph "DJ" Byrne (38), and his brother Jason Byrne (32), both of Hammer Lane, Borness, Mountmellick, Co Laois, who deny murdering Edward Dempsey on October 11th, 2007.
Mr Dempsey, a married father of two, died in Portlaoise Hospital 10 months after the alleged assault.
John Dempsey has told the jury in evidence that the Byrnes "invited" his brother on to their land to get a heifer that had strayed into their field on December 18th, 2006.
He said the two Byrnes "turned on" his brother and beat him once he had stepped into their yard.
Det Garda Lyne, who has been attached to Portarlington Garda station for 37 years, arrived at Hammer Lane shortly after the incident. He said that on arrival he saw DJ Byrne standing in the yard next to his brother, Jason Byrne.
He told the jury: "DJ said to me, 'I hit him, you can arrest and charge me' . . . he was holding the handle of a shovel."
Michael Bowman SC, defending, put it to Det Garda Lyne that DJ Byrne had never made that comment in relation to the incident. He replied that he had. He did not speak to either of the Byrnes as he was concerned about Mr Dempsey's condition.
He said he was anxious to get Mr Dempsey to hospital and eventually persuaded him to get into the patrol car so he could drive him to Portlaoise Hospital.
He told the court that as he drove away, he heard DJ Byrne say to him: "What about the animals in my yard? I'm not going to be at a loss feeding them."
Mr Bowman put it to him that Mr Byrne never made that comment, but Det Garda Lyne said he had.
Recalling how Mr Dempsey's condition deteriorated on the way to hospital, Det Garda Lyne said: "His voice was getting slurred and he was disoriented . . . he put his two hands up to his head and grunted and then he went into a spasm . . . it went on for a while."
By the time they arrived at A&E, Mr Dempsey was lying across the back of the car.
John Short SC, for Jason Byrne,asked why Det Garda Lyne had allowed Mr Dempsey to take off his jacket and leave it on the ground before he got into the car.
The detective garda said that his priority was to get Mr Dempsey to hospital.
The jury was also shown the handle of a shovel, a stick and the jacket worn by Mr Dempsey. The right shoulder of the jacket was blood-stained, but Det Garda Lyne told the court no tests had been done on the jacket so he could not confirm that the blood was that of Mr Dempsey.
The case resumes on Monday before Mr Justice George Birmingham.