A Bray man accused of fatally stabbing a man six years ago told gardaí he didn't intend to stab the deceased, allegedly saying, "It was him or me," the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Mr Richard O'Carroll (33), with addresses in Bray at Greenpark Road and Cois Sléibhe, Southern Cross Road, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Keith Fortune (27), of Hazelwood Upper, Dargle Road, Bray.
Mr Fortune died after an incident at the William Dargan Inn, Goldsmith Terrace, on Quinsboro Road, Bray, in the early hours of May 2nd, 1999.
Det Sgt Patrick Campbell told the jury he arrested the accused in Bray on May 2nd, 1999.
Mr O'Carroll allegedly told gardaí: "Keith said something, a smart remark. I exchanged some words with him. Then I saw the knife come out of his sleeve. I quickly head-butted him. A scuffle followed and we wrestled around with the knife and Keith got stabbed."
He also allegedly said: "I took the knife from Keith Fortune and we were still struggling. I can't remember what happened the knife. Someone could have taken it off me."
Det Insp Gerald O'Carroll told the jury the accused told gardaí he stabbed the deceased in self-defence, allegedly saying, "I didn't want to be the one ending up in the morgue."
The accused told gardaí he believed alcohol "played a part in it ... Keith was drunk and I was drunk".
In his statement to gardaí, Mr O'Carroll apologised for stabbing his friend and former colleague: "I knew him from my teens and we used to work together. I wish to apologise to Keith Fortune's family and to my own family."
One of the State's main witnesses, Ms Jacqueline Smith from Bray, was yesterday deemed a hostile witness by trial judge Ms Justice Dunne. Ms Smith told the jury she "couldn't remember" making three statements to gardaí, and also couldn't remember much of May 1st in the William Dargan Inn.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Barry Hickson SC read to the jury Ms Smith's three statements in which she told gardaí she was in the company of Mr Fortune on the night of the stabbing. Mr Fortune, she told gardaí, left the pub to go home after last orders.
Mr Hickson SC suggested to Ms Smith that her "lapse of memory was a strategy of convenience". Ms Smith said that at the time of the stabbing she was a heroin addict and "would have said Mass to get [ my] next fix".
The trial continues.