A FORMER Mountjoy inmate has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of a fellow inmate at the jail over three years ago.
Declan O’Reilly (30), Parnell Road in Crumlin, has denied murdering Derek Glennon (24), who was stabbed during a fight on a ground floor wing of the prison on June 25th, 2007.
Opening the trial for the jury yesterday, prosecuting counsel, Anthony Sammon SC, said the “major witness” in the trial is the CCTV footage of the incident, which he said amounted to a “very fast moving struggle in a corridor of the prison.”
John Farrell, who was a senior prison officer in Mountjoy at the time, told the court in his evidence that he became aware of “horseplay” between two inmates on the evening in question.
He said this intensified into a fight so he called for assistance and went to separate the prisoners, who had both fallen to the ground in the struggle.
When he reached them he said Glennon was on top of Mr O’Reilly and appeared to have gained the upper hand, so he believed him to be the aggressor.
After he and other prison staff had separated the two, Mr Farrell said Glennon remained violent and he heard someone shout “he has a knife.”
Believing this to mean that it was Glennon who had the weapon, Mr Farrell struck him and brought him to the ground to restrain him as was procedure.
At that point he heard Glennon say “I’m stabbed” and he showed him a stab wound.
The witness helped him to his feet and began to walk him away from the scene, but Glennon’s feet went from under him and he collapsed.
Prison staff attempted to give him medical assistance while they waited for the emergency services to arrive.
The jury watched two pieces of footage from CCTV cameras that had captured the incident at the prison.
The jury was also cautioned by the prosecution against speculating as to why Mr O’Reilly had been in prison in June 2007.
“It is very important that you do not in any way allow that to influence your judgment of the facts,” Mr Sammon told the five men and seven women.
The trial resumes today before Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and is expected to last until the end of the week.