Man tells court he did not put diazepam tablets into murder accused’s mouth

The brother of a man charged with murdering their father has denied putting diazepam tablets into the accused man’s mouth earlier in the day.

Gerard Lambe was being cross examined by the defence on Wednesday on the second day of his half-brother’s trial at the Central Criminal Court.

Gerard (Gerry) Fortune was stabbed in the neck on August 19th, 2018, after watching the All-Ireland final in his living room.

David Fortune (33) of Rutland Grove in Crumlin has pleaded not guilty to his murder at that address.

Their sister, Laura Lambe, earlier told the court that the accused was hallucinating just before the stabbing, after consuming a number of tablets.

She broke down in tears when she recalled her father trying to calm down the accused, who thought someone wanted to kill him, by saying: “Nobody’s going to die today.”

The 35-year-old told Seán Gillane SC that she arrived to the house very early that morning, and that the accused, his friend and her other brother, Gerard, were in the shed, having a drink. She joined them for a beer and cocaine.

She said that the accused was also taking tablets.

“He was after putting a lot of them in his mouth,” she recalled.

She said that they ran out of drink at one stage and that she and the accused’s friend went to the shop for more.

“On and off, David was getting paranoid, and he was arguing,” she said.

“He was saying: ‘Get that fella from behind the telly. I’m going to kill him,’” she testified, explaining that there was nobody behind the television.

“It was like as if he wasn’t in his own body,” she added.

She said that their father, who had come in from work in St James’s Hospital that morning, called him into the house for dinner and tea to try to calm him down. The accused went into the living room of the house, but wouldn’t accept the meal.

She said that she was in the adjoining kitchen when she heard her father screaming at her brother, Gerard, to get out of the room.

“I saw Gerard running out to the back garden,” she said. “Da was telling him to get out before David hit him.”

She said that the accused was shouting at their father: “Da, I’m going to die.”

Ms Lambe became emotional as she recalled their father’s reply: “You’re not going to die, son. No-one is going to die today.”

She said that the accused had a knife, and that she stood between him and their father.

“He wasn’t in his body,” she said of the accused. “He was blank. His eyes were black.”

She said that the accused swung his arm, knife in hand.

“I just turned around and seen my Da fall,” she said. “I screamed. My Da jumped up and ran, holding his neck. He ran to the front door and collapsed again.”

The court has already heard that he was taken by ambulance to hospital, but died a short time later.

Ms Lambe was cross examined by Michael Bowman SC, defending.

She agreed that the accused and the deceased had loved and idolised each other.

She also agreed that she had told gardaí­ that the accused was paranoid, hallucinating, “possessed” and frothing at the mouth that day. She said this was “probably” as a result of the drugs he had taken.

She agreed that the accused appeared not to have any understanding of what was going on around him.

“He’d never harm my Da,” she said.

She said that the accused had begun hallucinating again just before the incident.

Mr Bowman put it to her “We wouldn’t be here today” were it not for the tablets the accused had taken.

“Yeah, definitely,” she replied.

The jury also heard from their younger brother, Gerard Lambe. He, too, described the accused as being paranoid and hallucinating that day.

He agreed with Mr Bowman that the blue tablets taken by the accused belonged to him (the witness).

He also agreed that he had no prescription for them, that they were not bona fide diazepam tablets made in a factory.

“They are known to have violently hallucinogenic reactions,” suggested Mr Bowman.

“Yes,” he replied.

“They were in the press. I took them to try and relax him, to take him down of the coke,” he said. “I didn’t put them down his throat.”

“How do you know I’m suggesting you put them in his mouth?” asked Mr Bowman.

“That is the suggestion,” confirmed the barrister.

“They’re made on the streets and can have anything in them,” remarked counsel, suggesting that his client had not gone to any press to get them.

“Ok, I gave him the tablets,” said Mr Lambe, who also agreed that ‘maybe, yes’, this was why his brother had been hallucinating.

However, he couldn’t say that ‘but for the blue tablets, we wouldn’t be here today’.

“Can I suggest that he didn’t know what they were,” said counsel. “You told him to shut up, take them and put them in his mouth.”

Mr Lambe said that did not happen.

Mr Gillane re-examined the witness, who confirmed that the accused had also consumed cocaine and beer.

“Did anyone force him to take cocaine?” he asked.

“No,” replied Mr Lambe.

“Did anyone force him to drink beer?” he asked.

“No,” he replied.

The trial continues.