An emergency consultant has described how he stabilised a man with 28 stab wounds who had escaped from the boot of a car that was pushed into a canal.
Dr Asim Rafeeque told the jury in the trial of Paul Crosby (23), that Gerard Boyle arrived at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, with wounds to his chest, neck, back and shoulder.
Dr Rafeeque told Patrick Gageby SC, prosecuting, that he had to drain air from Mr Boyle's chest cavity to avoid it putting pressure on his heart. He described how this pressure might have led to cardiac arrest.
The doctor said a patient can die within minutes if such symptoms are not treated.
Mr Crosby, of Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth, has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of 33-year-old Mr Boyle at Knockcommon, Beauparc, Slane, Co Meath, on November 10, 2016.
Mr Crosby has also pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court falsely imprisoning and intentionally or recklessly causing serious harm to Mr Boyle on the same occasion.
Forensic scientist Crystal O'Connor told Mr Gageby that she found Mr Boyle's DNA on swabs taken from a knife, its handle and a vehicle. She said these swabs contained blood and were sent to her as part of the investigation.
She said she did not find any blood on a pair of runners belonging to accused Mr Crosby, which were also sent to her along with his DNA sample.
Ms O'Connor confirmed to Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that she did not find anything to connect the accused to the items she examined.
Detective Garda Shane Curran told Mr Gageby that he and a colleague took a statement about the alleged incident from Mr Boyle while he was in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital.
He said Mr Boyle mentioned being collected by a Ford Fiesta before changing over to another vehicle on the date in question.
Det Gda Curran told Mr Gageby that he then patrolled the Rathmullen area of Drogheda to see if he could find the Ford Fiesta. He said as he drove to the location, he met an oncoming green coloured Ford Fiesta car with two occupants.
He said the occupants saw the gardaí and the car drove off at speed. The detective said he later found the car abandoned in the back lanes of the estate.
He told the court the car's driver had looked straight at him before taking off and he was later able to identify this individual, who is not before the courts.
Det Gda Curran agreed with Mr Grehan that there is no fingerprint evidence in this case. He confirmed he is a trained forensic phone examiner and had extracted data from Mr Boyle's mobile device.
He agreed he found information in the notes application on Mr Boyle's phone. When Mr Grehan asked him if he could comment on this text information, he replied that he couldn't explain it as it was random numbers and notes.
Mr Grehan read out the text in the notes, which included “6x28”, “1x250” as well as “Ross 200”, “John 400”. Det Gda Curran confirmed this was the information in the notes.
Mr Gageby told the court that the prosecution will come to a close tomorrow.
The trial continues before Ms Justice Carmel Stewart and a jury of three woman and nine men.
