Alison O'Riordan
A teenage boy told gardai that he stabbed a fisherman who entered his home in the early hours of the morning and attacked his mother, a murder trial has heard.
When he was arrested the accused Dean Kerrie, who is now 20, said: "He should not have come into my house. I was asleep. I heard a smash, the front window breaking. He grabbed my mother. He started punching and kicking her. I grabbed a knife and stabbed him with it."
Mr Kerrie with an address at St Brigid's Square, Portarlington in Co Laois has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jack Power (25) at Shanakiel, Dunmore East, Co Waterford on July 26th, 2018.
Giving evidence this afternoon, Sergeant Pat Kelly told prosecution counsel Michael Delaney SC that he heard about a 999 call in Waterford Garda Station concerning a disturbance in Shanakiel around 3.30am on July 26th.
The witness said he arrived at Shanakiel at 4.07am, where Mr Power had already been placed in the ambulance that was leaving the scene.
Stab wound to chest
Sgt Kelly was informed that Mr Power had sustained a single stab wound to the chest and his injuries were serious. He said that all the windows of the house were broken and Ann Fitzgerald, the accused's mother, opened the door to him.
When he walked into the hallway, there was a broken chair and a kitchen knife on the floor of the hallway.
"Mr Kerrie was sitting in the corner of the kitchen. He was crying and saying sorry and holding a bottle of water. There was a small drop of blood on his clothing," said the Sergeant.
Sgt Kelly arrested Mr Kerrie on suspicion of assault causing harm to Mr Power and cautioned him. In reply to the caution, Mr Kerrie said: "He should not have come into my house. I was asleep. I heard a smash, the front window breaking. He grabbed my mother. He started punching and kicking her. I grabbed a knife and stabbed him with it."
The witness said that after Mr Kerrie was arrested, he took off his t-shirt and shorts and left them on the floor. The witness said he had not asked the accused to remove his clothes.
Under cross-examination, Sgt Kelly agreed with defence counsel Ciaran O'Loughlin SC that he had recorded Mr Kerrie saying at the time: "What the f**k has happened, he was hitting my mother". He also agreed that Mr Kerrie had gone to the garda station that day with his mother as he was a minor at the time.
Blood smears
Detective Garda Janette O'Neill said she went to Shanakiel on July 26th and there was a black and white handled knife on the floor in the hallway. She also found a blood-stained t-shirt, a pair of shorts with some blood on the front and socks on the kitchen floor.
There were two blood smears on a chair in the kitchen and blood drops around the hall. The witness also observed a large rock on the couch and there was a head of a golf club in the first bedroom.
The detective said she found two knives in behind the draining board, one of which was heavily blood-stained.
Earlier, Detective Garda Joyce Donoghue said she was driving a patrol car at 3.40am on July 26th, when she received a call on the radio that there had been a stabbing at Shanakiel.
When she entered the estate at 3.56am, the witness said she saw Mr Power lying on his back on the ground with a number of people standing around him. Her colleague got out of the car and started performing CPR on him.
Signs of life
The detective said there did not appear to be any signs of life coming from Mr Power. She observed a stab wound of between two and three inches in the middle of his chest. She compressed the wound with a t-shirt and an ambulance arrived a few minutes later.
Det Donoghue observed Mr Kerrie go into his house and followed him inside. There was a broken chair and a kitchen knife on the ground in the hallway. A couple of droplets of blood were on the ground near where the knife was located.
The witness said she drove Mr Kerrie and his mother to Waterford Garda Station after his arrest. The detective said she did not observe any injuries to Ann Fitzgerald and she had not reported any to her either.
Garda Niall McCarthy said he was in the patrol car with the previous witness and had run over to Mr Power when they arrived at the scene. He said Mr Power's complexion was grey and his eyes were half open. He was unable to find a pulse.
Opening the prosecution’s case last week, Mr Delaney said the jury may have to consider the issue of self defence in the trial.
Counsel also said the jury would hear that a black and white handled knife, which had been lying on the floor, was seized and swabbed for blood but "curiously no blood was found on the blade".
The court heard gardai found a similar knife partially concealed on the draining board in the kitchen of the house, which did appear to have blood, and it was found to contain Mr Power's DNA.
The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of eight men and four women.
