A Dublin man accused of murdering a prostitute and dumping her body in the Wicklow mountains told a jury in the Central Criminal Court yesterday that another man killed her.
After dumping her body in a ditch, the two men fought, the accused said, and he put the other man in the boot of his car. He declined to say whether the second man was alive or dead at the time.
Mr Philip Colgan (27), of Crannagh Castle, Rathfarnham, has denied that on or about March 2nd, 1999, he murdered Ms Layla Brennan (24), of Moorefield Green, Ronanstown, Co Dublin, in Co Dublin.
In his evidence, Mr Colgan told the jury that while driving in his car on the night of the killing another unidentified man with him spotted Ms Brennan walking along Dame Street and asked him to stop the car.
Ms Brennan was invited into the car, and the three drove off towards Donnybrook, said Mr Colgan.
"There was an understanding between us, because she owed him money. I asked him did she owe enough for the both of us, and we'd both be able to have to sex with her [and] he said yes," he said.
Mr Colgan said he then got out of the car and walked some distance to stand under a canopy because it was raining.
When he returned to the car 15 to 30 minutes later, he said he saw Ms Brennan face down on the back seat of the car with her bra tightly tied around her neck.
"I was sure from the look on her face that she was dead," he said. "[The other man] said she tried to rob him and he tried to shut her up."
The two men then put Ms Brennan's body into the boot of Mr Colgan's car, drove to a layby in the Wicklow mountains and carried and dragged Ms Brennan's body through thicket before dumping her in a ditch, he said.
Mr Colgan said after walking back to his car he witnessed the other man strike a blow with a wheel brace on what he believed to be Ms Brennan's body.
"I was nervous," he said. "The reason I stopped in that lay-by was because I was afraid for my own safety. I had been nervous in the first place going any further into the mountains with him.
"When he came around the back of the car I grabbed him. I felt if I didn't I was going to end up getting hit with the wheel brace."
The two men had a "pretty violent" struggle and Mr Colgan "rendered him unconscious", he said.
After that, he said, he put the other man into the boot of his car and drove farther into the mountains.
Asked if the man was alive, Mr Colgan replied: "I'd rather not answer that."
Asked where he went and what he did when he got farther into the mountains, he replied: "I'd rather not answer that."
He said he left the scene approximately 15 minutes later.
The trial before Mr Justice Butler and a jury of eight men and four women continues on Tuesday.