A man on trial for murder told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that he was "in fear for his life" moments before he stabbed another man to death.
Mr Gerald, or Gerard, Dunne (26) Rafters Avenue, Drimnagh, has denied that on January 27th, 1999, at Dolphin Road, Dublin, he murdered Liam Thompson (20), Woodlawn Park Grove, Firhouse, Tallaght.
On the seventh day of the trial, Mr Dunne told the court he had been in a street brawl with Mr Thompson who had "grabbed a hold of me and started hitting me. He got me down in a headlock and banging my head off the ground.
"Mr Thompson had me down on the ground. [His friend] came over then to help me and he swung something across Mr Thompson's face and he had blood coming out of his face. Mr Thompson let me get up.
"As I was getting up, [another man] caught me on the side of the head with a beer can and gave me a kick to the jaw and I fell back down on to the ground. Liam Thompson proceeded to hit me with punches, banging my head off the ground."
"[His friend] then came over and handed me something. I don't know what it was at that stage," he said. "I was in fear for my own life at this stage and he just said `Stab the bastard' so I just struck out with what I had in my hand into his side. I just wanted to hurt him. I just wanted him to get off me."
Mr Dunne said he was using a public telephone box near Dolphin Road with a friend on the previous night when a man tapped on the window and told him to hurry up. He told the man he would be a while but the other man grew impatient and the row developed.
The trial enters its concluding stages on Tuesday.