A friend of an African man whose dismembered and headless body was pulled from the Royal Canal in Dublin last year has claimed he saw him on the day of the alleged murder in the company of three women.
Mohammed Ali Abu Bakaar from Somalia was giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court in the trial of two Dublin sisters who both deny the murder of a man known as Farah Swaleh Noor (also known as Sheilila Salim).
Linda Mulhall (31), a mother of four from Kilcare Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin, and her younger sister, Charlotte, a mother of one from the same address, have both pleaded not guilty to the murder of their mother Kathleen's partner at Richmond Cottages, Ballybough, Dublin, on March 20th last year.
Mr Abu Bakaar told George Birmingham SC, prosecuting, that he knew the victim from the east African coastline where the two had worked on fishing boats.
He said he met him from time to time in Ireland where the witness has lived since 1996.
He said he was with his girlfriend when he last saw Mr Noor on O'Connell Street on the weekend of St Patrick's Day, which he said was Sunday, March 20th.
He said he saw Mr Noor with his girlfriend, whom he knew as "Katherine", and her two daughters.
He said: "I call him to talk to him because I know after a few drinks, Farah, anything can happen to him."
He said he went to tell his friend just to go home and relax.
"I always do that to people I know when I see them in that condition."
He said the group was carrying one or two bags of cans.
"Katherine say those are my daughters and we just said hello."
He said as he was talking to his friend, Katherine came up to stop him and told him: "Just leave him alone, he's okay."
He said this happened between 5.30pm and 6pm, and he remembered his friend had been wearing the Irish away soccer jersey with green and white stripes.
Over a month later he said he was reading the Metro Éireann newspaper for the African community when he saw an article about the body of somebody of African origin being found in the canal. He said there was a picture of a T-shirt and socks.
"I just thought Farah used to wear this T-shirt and I ring people to see if they had any contact with him."
He said he later tried to ring a number for the deceased but someone answered and hung up.
Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, for Linda Mulhall, Mr Abu Bakaar said he had told his friend to go home and relax as he thought he might have been having an argument with Katherine.
Asked if he knew whether Mr Noor's personality changed dramatically when he was drinking, he said: "I never lasted the whole night with him." He later said: "I only heard but I don't know that."
Earlier the court heard from Gary Dunne, from the north inner city, who said he was walking along the Royal Canal when he saw a group of children gathered near the water.
He went to see what they were looking at, and said he saw what appeared to be a leg at the bottom of the water. "There was a sock on it," he said, and at first he thought it was from a mannequin.
Sgt John Bruton, from the Garda Sub-Aqua Unit, said he was called to a cordoned-off scene at the canal in Ballybough on March 31st last year.
He said a number of body parts were retrieved, including a torso, which had floated 20 to 30 yards up-stream in the direction of Croke Park.
He also identified a kitchen knife and a hammer which had been found following a search of a lake in Sean Walsh Memorial Park in Tallaght on August 22nd, 2005.
The trial adjourned early yesterday, and will resume again on Monday before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury of six women and six men.