A man who denies the murder of a neighbour three years ago admitted kicking him twice in the head as he lay on the ground, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has been told.
The kicking occurred after the man struck his head against a low wall, having been pushed in the back by the man accused of his murder.
Mr David Dunne (25), of Coultry Road, Ballymun, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Patrick Higgins (50), of Coultry Grove, on November 13th, 1995.
A jury heard that initially Mr Dunne told gardai: "I ran at him and he banged his head against the wall. I didn't know it was Paddy. I thought he'd hit my mother."
Garda witnesses said the man showed "genuine distress" immediately after the incident and went voluntarily to Ballymun Garda station to make a statement. He told Garda David Kemp: "Somebody pushed my Ma and I thought it was him. I ran around the corner and pushed the first person I seen.
"I wouldn't let anyone hit my Ma, no way, but I didn't realise it was Pat Higgins."
Det Garda Paul Molloy told Mr Sean Ryan SC, prosecuting, that that afternoon, after receiving a visit from his girlfriend, Ms Dawn McCarthy, Mr Dunne said he had not told the truth about what had happened.
In a signed statement, he told gardai: "I kicked Pat twice when he was on the ground. It was on the head. I thought [my mother] was being mugged or battered or raped. I didn't realise it was him but it still doesn't give him the right to do what he did."
The jury has heard that Mrs Helen Dunne, Mr Dunne's mother, went after Mr Higgins when he left his house after "a stupid argument" with her in the kitchen following a christening party.
Under cross-examination yesterday, the State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, told Mr Gregory Murphy SC, defending, that a serious injury to Mr Higgins's back was "quite explicable by one impact".
Some injuries could have been caused by Mr Higgins's fall to the ground after his head hit a low wall, but not all, Dr Harbison said.
Det Sgt Murphy told the court the man came from a family of seven boys, none of whom had come under adverse police notice, with the exception of one, who was found drunk and disorderly.
Mr Dunne had no history of being involved in violence, he agreed.
Closing speeches will be heard in the trial today after which the jury will retire to consider its verdict.