A JURY AT the Central Criminal Court has heard that a man saw his friend fall to the ground when he was fatally stabbed after a night out to celebrate leaving school.
Finn Colclough (18), Waterloo Road, Dublin, denies murdering Seán Nolan (18) at Waterloo Road on May 26th, 2007.
When the case opened yesterday, Mr Justice Paul Carney issued a warning to all media about the reporting of the trial. He said any organisation that ran information not before the jurors or put themselves in contempt of court would have to pay for them to be sequestered in the K Club.
Ciarán Wogan, a friend of Mr Nolan, told Mary Ellen Ring, prosecuting, that he and Mr Nolan and another friend, Eric Treacy, had been celebrating finishing at St Joseph's CBS in Fairview.
They had been refused entry into several nightclubs when they went in search of a girl Mr Nolan knew called Sara, who he thought lived on Waterloo Road.
On the way they stopped at a garage and bought a bottle of wine.
Mr Wogan said they had met Mr Colclough and two friends near Mr Colclough's house. He said Mr Colclough had long hair at the time and was carrying two or three cans of Right Guard deodorant. He and his friends asked them where Sara lived. He said the conversation was friendly enough and Mr Colclough and his friends returned to the house.
He said they did not move on from the house immediately. He said Mr Nolan was calling other friends and they were standing on the street. Mr Wogan said a girl who had been with Mr Colclough at the earlier meeting came out of the house and told them to move on. He saw Mr Colclough come running out of the house with a knife in each hand shouting at them to "get the f*** out of here". He said he seemed to be "out of control".
Mr Wogan said Mr Nolan "stood up" to Mr Colclough. "He just stood up and said 'what are you going to do about it'." Mr Wogan said he did not remember who struck the first blow.
"I remember a knife being swung, a punch being thrown but I don't know what happened first."
He said Mr Nolan took a few steps back while Mr Colclough was "running in and out of the garden shouting get the f*** out of here". Mr Wogan said his friend said to him: "I'm after being stabbed." He said he saw Mr Nolan fall to the ground, his skin turning white. His friend turned to him and said, "he's dying, mate," and told him to call an ambulance.
Mr Wogan said they had started their evening in Smyth's pub in Fairview. They had moved on to Bar Code nightclub in Clontarf then taken a taxi into town to Reds nightclub on O'Connell Bridge.
After about an hour they tried to get into the Q Bar, then Eamon Dorans. When they failed to get into either place they took another taxi back to Bar Code but found the place had closed.
They took another taxi back into town and went to a nightclub on Leeson Street but didn't stay. It was at this stage that Mr Nolan decided to go and look for Sara.