The Central Criminal Court has heard evidence of interviews in Pearse Street Garda station with two men accused of murder in August 2002.
James Harmer (27), Bachelors Walk, Dublin, and Noel O'Flaherty (34), Baldoyle, Co Dublin, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ly Minh Luong (50) in Temple Bar, Dublin.
They have also pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Wei Dong (36) at Temple Bar on August 16th, 2002.
The court heard that Mr Harmer and Mr O'Flaherty came voluntarily to the station later that day, after gardaí called to the Abbey Court hostel where they were staying at the time.
According to gardaí, Mr Harmer was "vague" about why the assault on Mr Luong and Mr Dong had started.
"We were walking home and got into an argument with two lads. One of them hit Noel and Noel hit him back," Mr Harmer said.
"I hit one of them with my fist," he said.
He said he "threw about two or three punches".
He denied kicking anybody on the ground during the assault.
He said he was "tipsy" and could not remember everything.
Det Garda John McCauley agreed with Mr Harmer's counsel, Peter Finlay SC, that the occasion "had all the appearances of a night which went horribly wrong".
According to Mr O'Flaherty's statement, Mr Harmer said "Chinese wankers, Chinese bastards" as they passed two Asian men by the Central Bank.
"James says stuff like that all the time but he doesn't mean it," Mr O'Flaherty said.
One of the Asian men said something in return and "James threw a punch at him".
He said the second Asian man went for Mr Harmer, which is when Mr O'Flaherty threw a punch at him.
Mr Luong died three days later from swelling and bleeding into the brain.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Butler.