LAWYERS FOR the State have told the jury in the case of a butcher on trial for murdering a shopkeeper during a robbery that he deliberately stabbed the man through the chest as “a means to an end”.
Closing a three-day murder trial at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin, Úna Ní Raifeartaigh, for the prosecution, said Anthony Farrell decided to stab John Deasy so he could get him out of his way as he tried to flee after robbing a newsagents of €50.
Farrell (20), of Marian Villas, Arklow, has denied murdering Mr Deasy at Brauder’s shop in Arklow on November 25th, 2009. He has pleaded guilty to robbery.
Farrell went to the newsagents at about 8pm armed with a kitchen knife and wearing a balaclava.
“He screamed at Kay O’Connor, intimidated her with the knife, took the money and made to take off . . . then he came across John Deasy, who is blocking his escape. Anthony Farrell made an instant decision to stab Mr Deasy, as he was the one thing preventing him from getting away,” Ms Ní Raifeartaigh said.
“So he plunged the knife into his chest . . . as a means to an end, not because he bore Mr Deasy a grudge or ill-will, but because he was getting in the way.”
Ms Ní Raifeartaigh said it was a “deliberate stabbing” and there was no question of self-defence, even though Mr Deasy had been armed with a knife himself.
She continued that Mr Deasy “did no more than you would expect a shopkeeper to do, having had the experience of robberies in the past and having heard his employee screaming for help”.
It was clear Farrell had used “at least moderate force”, Ms Ní Raifeartaigh said, as the knife had reached a depth of 10cm, cutting through a rib and severing the aorta.
She asked the jury to bear in mind the fact Farrell was “a butcher, so used to handling knives”, and concluded by saying the only appropriate verdict in the case was one of murder.
Michael O’Higgins, defending, said while Farrell had “done a terrible thing”, the killing was not murder.
He said the prosecution had invited the jury to ignore that Mr Deasy had said to Farrell: “This is the second f**king time, and this time I have the knife.”
The court has heard Farrell was not involved in either of the two previous armed robberies at the newsagents.
Mr O’Higgins said it was not a “leap of imagination that a 19 year old, terrified the gardaí were going to come and arrest him . . . was a very frightened and panicked individual. Before you factor that in, the man holding him there is armed with a knife.”
While accepting Farrell had run towards Mr Deasy with the knife raised, Mr O’Higgins told the jury that if they took the view Farrell had “stuck out the knife in the general direction of Mr Deasy with the intention of frightening him, but the knife was stuck in, that would be an accident – it would mean he lacked the necessary mental element for murder”.
The jury will begin its deliberations today, after first hearing from trial judge Mr Justice Paul Butler.