A 23-year-old Dutchman said he had entered a "twilight zone", due to excessive use of cocaine and other drugs, in the months before murdering three Irishmen, a Dutch court was told yesterday.
Mr Mike Braxhoofden and Mr Ronald van Bommel (20) are charged with murdering Co Tipperary brothers Vincent (29) and Morgan (21) Costello and their friend, Damien Monahan (24), of Ennis, Co Clare. Both are also charged with carving up and partially burning the bodies in an attempt to destroy the evidence.
Mr van Bommel, who admitted his part in the killings, was also said to be drugs-crazed during and after the murders, between April 26th and 29th.
"It was excessive use of drugs that made me do it," Mr Braxhoofden said. "Otherwise I wouldn't have shot my best friend. He was more than a brother to me," he added, referring to Mr Monahan.
Among those attending the hearing were the mothers of the deceased, Mrs Nora Monahan and Mrs Margaret Costello.
Mr Braxhoofden claimed that while living with Damien Monahan and Vincent Costello in a rented luxury flat in the seaside town of Scheveningen near The Hague, he was involved in drugs deals with the two. He said he had supplied 10,000 amphetamine pills and 25,000 ecstasy tablets to Vincent Costello, who refused to pay. His friendship with the Irishmen cooled.
On the night of April 26th he became convinced he and his friend, Mr van Bommel, who was also staying at the apartment, were going to be killed. Shouting to Mr van Bommel to back him up, he grabbed a loaded gun and turned it first on the Costello brothers and then on Mr Monahan, returning 10 minutes later to shoot his former best friend again.
According to forensic reports, autopsy reports and statements of the accused, the Irishmen were then stabbed by their killer, who thought they might still be alive.
The two Dutchmen moved the bodies from the bedroom into a storage cupboard. In the days that followed they consumed huge amounts of drugs and alcohol, and prostitutes were brought into the apartment, the court was told.
Mr van Bommel, who claimed he was out of his mind on drugs and was scared he, too, would be killed by his crazed accomplice, was ordered to go to a DIY store in a nearby town and buy two hand-saws to mutilate the victims.
They put the bodies in the bathroom and doused them with paraffin. They placed explosives on the bodies and, having severed a gas pipe, started a blaze, hoping their crimes would go undetected.
Psychiatric and psychological reports indicated that while their drug intake could explain their paranoia and shocking deeds, both of the accused were mentally sane.
The public prosecutor will demand life imprisonment, at least 20 years for Mr Braxhoofden and 10 years or longer for his accomplice, when the trial resumes this morning.