A Dublin man accused of a cut-throat killing could have taken sleeping tablets or painkillers along with alcohol before he kicked and then stabbed a man to death in Inchicore four years ago.
A murder trial jury has heard that there is no issue but that Mr John Cleary, of St Mark's Avenue, Clondalkin, Dublin, killed Mr Kenneth Foley outside a flat in an "old folks' complex" in Inchicore - the only issue is whether it was murder or manslaughter.
Yesterday the jury heard that painkillers for arthritis and Valium or Diazaphene tablets were found on a table in the living room where four men, including the accused and deceased, sat drinking before the fatal incident.
Mr David Goldberg SC, defending, said he was instructed that the flat tenant, Mr Anthony McCarten, gave Mr Cleary tablets to take and that he "possibly" also gave them to his nephew, Mr Don Knowles, who is charged with assault causing serious harm but who skipped bail and left the jurisdiction.
Mr McCarten told the court he could not remember. He agreed he had been drinking all day.
Mr Cleary has denied murdering Kenneth Foley, (45), at Jamestown Court in Inchicore. Mr Foley, a single man with an address at Tyrconnell Road, Inchicore, was found dead on the steps of a stairwell in the Jamestown Court flat complex in the early hours of January 15th, 1999.
In a statement to the Garda on January 16th, 1999, Mr Cleary admitted boxing and kicking Foley, and then cutting his neck with a knife as he lay on the ground. He had earlier taken the knife from the kitchen of Mr Anthony McCarten's flat, where the four men were drinking.
In his statement, and in other interviews with gardaí that are not contested by the defence, Mr Cleary said he drank four pints with Mr Knowles on the afternoon of January 14th, and that he later had more in the flat in Inchicore. He said that at around 11 p.m., he asked Mr Foley if he wanted to walk with him as he was going home. He said Mr Foley said he wouldn't walk up the road with him as he would probably rob him.
"I got annoyed because I was only trying to be friendly," said Mr Cleary. He said he went into the kitchen and took out a small black-handled knife with him.
He said Foley was "getting smart" with him so he gave him "a box in the face".
"I went into the toilet to calm down and when I came out he was still giving it loads," he said.
He left the flat some time later and waited outside until Kenneth Foley left too. "I asked him did he want a straightener, and I gave him a box in the stomach," Mr Cleary told gardaí. He started fighting with Mr Foley and then Mr Knowles came out and started punching him too, he said.
Mr Cleary said he then started swinging the knife at Mr Foley, and cutting him with it. "Ken fell forward," he said. "He was lying on the ground and me and Don were killing him."
Asked what he meant by that, he said: "We were kicking the head off him." He said he then bent down and cut Foley's neck with the knife. "I just put the knife on his neck and I cut it," he said.
The trial continues.