A Dublin man stabbed another man with a knife so viciously he appeared to be punching him, a murder trial witness said yesterday.
Mr David McDonald told a jury in the Central Criminal Court that he saw the defendant stab the deceased with a blade but said: "I thought he was throwing punches, they were so vicious."
Mr Michael Doyle (22), of Tonduff Close, Greenpark, Green hills, Tallaght, has denied the murder of Mr Mark O'Keeffe (20) on May 30th, 1997, at a football pitch in Tallaght.
Mr McDonald told the court he saw the accused "coming up the field waving two blades".
At the time Mr Doyle approached Mr O'Keeffe, he was talking to some girl and was facing away from him, Mr McDonald said.
The accused was carrying what looked like two blades when he attacked Mr O'Keeffe, Mr McDonald told the court.
"I didn't think anyone would be that savage to stab anyone like that. What defensive action can you take when someone's coming at you with two knives?" he asked.
Mr David Bowes said that on the day of the fatal stabbing he was walking with Mr O'Keeffe towards the football pitch when he was told his brother's friend had been assaulted.
The kids were saying: "There's a madman up in the field," and that a youth had a pint glass put up to his face by a man called Mikey Doyle, he said.
"Because I'm a bit older I said `Right, go up and see what the story is'," Mr Bowes said.
"When I confronted Mr Doyle it probably looked like a standoff," he said.
Holding a metal bar while he demonstrated how he assaulted the accused, Mr Bowes told the court: "I gave him a few smacks with it. I didn't give him enough smacks with it."
Mr Eamon Leahy SC, prosecuting, had previously told the jury that after a fracas involving youths attacking Mr Doyle with metal bars and a knife, the accused fled the scene and later returned with long kitchen knives hidden in his clothing.
Mr Doyle then allegedly pulled the knives from his clothing and stabbed Mr O'Keeffe a number of times, piercing the right ventricle of his heart.
The trial before Mr Justice Kearns continues today.