A murder trial witness said yesterday that he was afraid to move as he watched the accused man strike the victim during a drunken row.
Prosecution witness Mr Michael Flynn told the Central Criminal Court: "I was afraid of my own life. I hadn't the guts inside of me [to leave the room]. I didn't know what to do." Mr William "Buster" Carroll (42) of no fixed abode, has denied the murder of Mr Thomas Harte (43) of Allen's Square, Ballymacthomas, Cork, in a disused house between May 19th and 20th, 1997.
Reading from Garda notes allegedly taken from the witness, defence counsel Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC put it to Mr Flynn that "Buster Carroll didn't strike" the deceased.
Mr Flynn replied: "I didn't say them words at all. I know the truth is bitter, but the truth is always the best. The man was striked, that was it, I can say no more about it."
Mr O'Carroll put it to Mr Flynn that he was involved in the alleged attack. "I didn't do no harm to the man," he replied. "I just seen what happened. I'm not lying. I'm telling the gospel truth." Asked if he had punched Mr Harte, Mr Flynn said: "No, I did not. It's not my style at all. I grabbed the man by the hand trying to get the man out of it."
Mr O'Carroll suggested Mr Flynn had given a "self-serving" account to gardai. Mr Flynn said: "Yes, just to keep myself out of trouble. I'm being threatened around Cork over this."
He said he was "under pressure" in the Garda station, but that he "didn't hit the man".
"All I was trying to do was to get the man out of there," he said.
Mr O'Carroll put it to the witness that he had objected to Mr Harte being in the disused house.
Mr Flynn replied: "My nerves gave out on me. I was afraid in case I might get it as well. I don't be angry at no one. I be angry at myself.
`All I wanted was to go on out to save the man's life. I've got nothing to do with the man."
Mr Flynn previously told the court that he, the accused and another man had gone to the disused house on Leitrim Street on the night of the attack to shelter from rain.
He said they entered through a window and walked into the front room, where Mr Harte was lying on a mattress.
Mr Flynn told the court the accused had claimed to recognise Mr Harte, believing he was responsible for the killing of his brother. "When I heard him coming out with that kind of talk I knew there was trouble. I said `get up and get out. Get out of this for God's sake'. Your honour, that's the words I said. The man didn't get up at all," Mr Flynn said.
After that, the court heard, "it got violent. Violence started - drunken violence."
Mr Flynn said the next morning he "grabbed the man's hand and he was all stiff and cold. I says, `he's dead'."
He said the accused warned him not to say anything about the dead body.
"We talked about it and the thing was Buster says, `Look, say nothing, just keep your mouth shut'," Mr Flynn said.
The case before Ms Justice Catherine McGuinness and a jury of eight women and four men will resume on Monday.