A Kerry man accused of murdering a teenager said gardai were using him as a "scapegoat" and that he was not guilty. Mr Michael O'Brien told the Central Criminal Court: "Five weeks after the crime, the guards were under intense pressure. They couldn't get the people who done it so they had to put all the blame on me. The guards are misleading the court." Mr O'Brien (27), single and unemployed, of Gallowsfield, Tralee, Co Kerry, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of James Healy (16) of Shanakill, Tralee, Co Kerry, at Monavalley Industrial Estate, Tralee, on or about February 22nd, 1997.
A statement alleging that Mr O'Brien murdered Mr Healy, which the accused man said was signed by him, was not "worth the paper it's printed on". "I signed a piece of paper but I made no statement admitting the killing of James Healy."
Mr O'Brien said gardai had not read the statement to him before asking him to sign it and that if they had done so, he would not have signed such a statement.
"They never read over anything to me because I would've spotted wrong words and I never would've signed it," he said. Referring to comments that he had been in the vicinity of the murder on the night Mr Healy was killed, Mr O'Brien said he "may have said those words in the barracks but those words aren't true at all".
Responding to a statement allegedly made by him which read "I know I killed him but I really only wanted to teach him a lesson", Mr O'Brien said: "I never said those words. The guards said them." Mr O'Brien also alleged that a garda involved in the murder investigation held up the alleged murder weapon to his face during questioning. He said Det Sgt John Brennan "pushed" the weapon "into my face". Sgt Brennan was recalled so the allegation might be put to him. He said it "certainly didn't happen".
The jury has heard that Mr O'Brien and Mr Healy drank cider together occasionally at different places in Tralee. Mr Healy's body was found on waste ground near a factory off Monavalley Road. State Pathologist Dr John Harbison previously told the court 13 of his teeth were knocked out, pieces of his jaw were dislodged and he had 20 head injuries. Later 31/2 of his teeth were found lodged in his windpipe and lungs.
Dr Harbison said he believed the teeth were inhaled, causing suffocation. Cause of death was suffocation, head injuries and shock.
The trial before Mr Justice Kinlen and a jury continues.