The mother of a Limerick man who was stabbed to death pleaded for her son's life shortly before he was killed, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mr Patrick Sheridan (33), Old Barrack View, Rathkeale, Limerick, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of David Sheridan (30), Fairhill, Rathkeale, Limerick, on April 15th, 2001, in Rathkeale.
The court has heard that the families of the dead man and the accused were celebrating a family engagement on the evening prior to the murder, which happened in the early hours of April 15th.
Under cross-examination by defence counsel Mr Patrick James McCarthy SC, Ms Christina Sheridan, the mother of the deceased, told how she witnessed some of the incident when her daughter-in-law called her to the yard of Mr Patrick Sheridan snr, the father of the accused, where there was a crowd of up to 200 gathered, the court has heard.
"I shouted, 'Don't kill my son, don't kill my son'," Ms Sheridan told the court yesterday.
She denied her son was "very drunk" but "had a few drinks on him". When asked about him vomiting earlier that night in a chip shop, she said it was the hot coffee that had made him sick.
The court has heard that the sister of the accused was married to the dead man - Patrick Sheridan and David Sheridan were brother-in-laws.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Roderick Murphy and a jury of six men and six women.