Murder accused allegedly admitted stabbing

The teenager accused of murdering 17-year-old Alan Higgins allegedly admitted to stabbing the schoolboy the morning after the…

The teenager accused of murdering 17-year-old Alan Higgins allegedly admitted to stabbing the schoolboy the morning after the fatal attack, a witness told a jury at the Central Criminal Court.

Mr Daniel Whelan from Kilbarrack told the court the accused allagedly said, "yeah, I stabbed him".

The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Mr Higgins (17) of The Donaghies, Donaghmede on October 13th 2002 outside UCI cinema, Coolock on Dublin's north side.

The accused also denies robbing the victim's mobile phone and a sum of cash on October 12th 2002.

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Mr Whelan told the jury that his brother is Mr Anthony Whelan (18) . The eighteen-year-old pleaded guilty along with Mr Michael Maher (18) to the manslaughter of Alan Higgins last Tuesday at the Central Criminal Court.

Mr Whelan said the accused called into his house at around 10am on Sunday October 13th 2002. "I looked at the teletext and it came up that some fella had been stabbed in the UCI the night before", Mr Whelan said.

The accused he claims asked him had he heard about the stabbing, to which the defendant allegedly replied, "well that was us".

"I asked him and he said 'yeah, I stabbed him'," Mr Whelan said.

Mr Whelan also said the accused, along with Mr Maher and his brother Anthony had in their possession what seemed to be Alan Higgins's mobile phone and they had "put it in a shore".

The State Pathologist told the jury that Alan Higgins died from "haemorraging and shock due to a stab wound to the chest".

Dr Marie Cassidy said the 17-year-old schoolboy "suffered considerable blood loss, so much had been lost that he developed a blood clot and blood was flowing from his wounds".

She said the teenager had suffered three stab wounds to the chest with the most serious stab wound "penetrating the lung".

Dr Cassidy said Alan Higgins had suffered from a severe form of leukaemia when he was four years old.

She said the schoolboy had completely recovered from the illness and that "he was not suffering from leukaemia when he was fatally stabbed".

The schoolboy, Dr Cassidy said, also suffered "blunt force trauma to the head and arms".

"The wounds to his face suggest Alan Higgins received a few punches to the face."

Dr Cassidy showed the jury the blood stained t-shirt that Alan Higgins had been wearing on the night he was fatally stabbed. She pointed to the right arm pit area where "three slits in the t-shirt corresponded with the three stab wounds he suffered", Dr Cassidy said.