A Dublin man admitted to gardai shortly after the attack that he had stabbed his next-door neighbour with a large hunting knife, a jury heard yesterday.
Sgt Mark Kelly said Mr Derek Gibbons (36), now on trial for murder, told him: "I did it. I stabbed him". The court heard that Mr Gibbons bought a set of two hunting knives for £35 and carried them around with him because of "hassle" he said he had been getting in the flats where he lived.
He spoke of "pains in his head" from the hassle and believed the deceased was responsible for it all. He had had a nervous breakdown two years earlier and had been taking prescribed tablets until a few months before the killing.
The trial of Mr Gibbons, who has denied murdering Mr Gerard Doyle (40), on December 21st, 1996, heard that immediately after the stabbing Mr Gibbons went back to his flat, put the knife in its pouch and put a pie in the oven and ate it. The victim and the accused were residents of Markievicz House, Townsend Street, Dublin.
Mr Doyle was pronounced dead in hospital shortly afterwards.
The jury heard that Mr Gibbons believed Mr Doyle had arranged to have him mugged some weeks earlier. The case continues.