The partner of the chef stabbed through the heart with a kitchen knife had tried to pull his killer off him with her only free hand while holding their young baby and screaming for help, the Central Criminal Court in Tralee heard yesterday.
Rachel Doyle was giving evidence on the second day of the murder trial of Joe Greaney (35), Cahernane Meadows, a married father of one and a native of Limerick. Mr Greaney has pleaded not guilty to murder but said he was guilty of the manslaughter of his friend and one-time colleague, Fergal Landy, in Killarney in January 2005.
Both men had worked as chefs in the Killarney area and lived near each other at Cahernane Meadows. Mr Landy and Mr Greaney were drinking partners, sometimes engaging in all-night drinking sessions at the deceased's apartment, Ms Doyle said yesterday.
She had objected to this and occasionally imposed bans on the accused's visits and had asked Mr Landy not to hang around with him. She knew Mr Greaney, having worked with him before she met Mr Landy at McSorely's pub and restaurant in Killarney.
Ms Doyle said they had been relaxing at home in their apartment at Cahernane Meadows on the night of January 24th, 2005. The deceased received a message, at 11.36pm, saying, "I'm coming for you", with a signature that she knew to be Mr Greaney's wife's phone.
She read the message out to the deceased and he asked her to call Mr Greaney. She put the phone on speaker as he was busy with the baby and she heard the accused saying "I am coming to get you".
"Within two minutes there was a racket outside," she said. This included banging and shouting and "come out, I am going to kill you". Mr Landy put the baby on the couch and put his shoes on to go out. He went around the back of the couch and took out a golf club. Ms Doyle told him not to go outside.
When she followed him after a short while with the baby, she heard arguing. Both men were standing up near a wall, and the deceased had his hands up to protect himself. He was telling the accused to put the knife away. "He looked at me and said, 'Rachel, he has a knife. He's after stabbing me'." Those were his last words to her.
Mr Landy did not seem very energetic, she said and Mr Greaney had him in a headlock. Shortly after that they were on the ground. Mr Greaney still had him in a headlock and was kneeling over him.
Ms Doyle couldn't see any blood. "I was screaming. I tried to pull the knife away with my free hand. I was screaming for help and to stop." She was screaming for help for 15-20 minutes "and nobody came out of their houses."
Finally, she kneed Mr Greaney in the face and bit him on the left ear.
When she lifted the deceased's white top, there was blood everywhere. She tried to give him CPR and staunch the blood with her hands. Mr Greaney tried to do the same and ran for help.
The court also heard there had been an altercation between the deceased and Mr Greaney in a pub a week previously. Mr Greaney had spoken to her when Mr Landy had gone out for a cigarette. The deceased "had picked it up that he was coming on to me," she said. Mr Greaney had ended up on the ground after a push from Mr Landy.
Under cross-examination by senior counsel Anthony Sammon, Ms Doyle denied the deceased was suffering from jealousy but said Mr Greaney would make suggestive remarks about her to her partner.