Man stabbed in heart after day spent `either in bed or drinking'

A Waterford man had it in for another man and stabbed him in the heart as he lay dozing on a sofa, a prosecution counsel said…

A Waterford man had it in for another man and stabbed him in the heart as he lay dozing on a sofa, a prosecution counsel said yesterday. In the Central Criminal Court in Dublin. Mr Francis Hogan (35), a single unemployed man, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Seamus Tubbritt (39), formerly of Pearse Park, Waterford, on December 9th, 1997, at a house in Ardmore Park, Ballybeg, Waterford, in which Mr Hogan was a lodger.

When the trial opened yesterday Mr Gregory Murphy SC, prosecuting, alleged Mr Hogan had said three weeks before Mr Tubbritt's death: "I'll get him yet."

Mr Hogan was living with two other people at the house in Ardmore Park when the incident happened. Counsel said it appeared the three spent "most of their day either in bed or drinking". The day before Mr Tubbritt's death was spent in the same way, he said.

In her evidence, one of the three occupants of the house, the main tenant, Ms Bridget Walsh, said she met Mr Tubbritt at a local supermarket on December 8th, and as he often did, he returned to the house at around 2 p.m. to drink beer and flagons of cider with her and her boyfriend.

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Mr Hogan was in bed, but he got up at around five o'clock and had a few drinks before leaving. When he returned at around 11.45 p.m., Ms Walsh's boyfriend had left after a row and only Mr Tubbritt and Ms Walsh remained. The three drank and watched television. The atmosphere was great and everything was OK, the witness said.

At around 1.45 a.m. Mr Tubbritt asked was it OK if he stayed the night. The witness went upstairs and brought down a duvet to cover him.

Mr Hogan was still watching television when she went to bed. Later Mr Hogan came into her bedroom and said: "I think I'm after murdering him."

When she went down she found Mr Tubbritt lying on the sofa with a knife on the floor beside him.

Ms Walsh said Mr Hogan was in the habit of carrying a knife. Cross-examined by defence counsel, Mr Anthony Sammon SC, she denied this was her imagination.

Mr Tony Ellickson told the court that at the time of the incident he was a community welfare officer with the South Eastern Health Board. On December 9th, 1997, he met the accused on the street.

"Francis mentioned that he was the one that was responsible for the death in Ardmore Park, or words to that effect," Mr Ellickson said.

"He mentioned that he was responsible and that he was going to the Garda barracks to report it".

The mother of Ms Bridget Walsh, Mrs Kathleen Walsh, of Priory Lawn, Ballybeg, said she cooked a fry for the accused after 6.30 p.m. on the night in question.

Mr Hogan had a couple of drinks on him but was not drunk, she said. He drank another two cans of beer at her house.

Her husband, Mr Laurence Walsh, said when Mr Hogan got up to go at around 11 or 11.30 p.m., he offered to walk with him since on a previous occasion "he had encountered an ugly situation".

Mr Hogan refused the offer and then took a knife out of his boot and "put it to my throat", Mr Walsh said. "He said he was capable of looking after himself."

Mr Walsh said he took the incident as some sort of joke and did not pay much attention to it. Cross-examining the witness, Mr Sammon said his instructions were that Mr Hogan did not put a knife to his throat.

The trial continues before a jury and Mr Justice Carney.