A DISPUTE which broke out among a group of young people who had watched the Collins Eubank fight on television and then went on to a disco resulted in one of them receiving a punch in the face which knocked him to the ground, a manslaughter trial was told yesterday.
On the opening day of a manslaughter trial yesterday before Judge Patrick Moran and a jury in Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Mr Bertie Pierce, of Horan's Road Kinsale, pleaded not guilty to a charge of unlawfully killing Mr Ger Fehilly on September 14th, 1995.
Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley, prosecuting, said it was a very tragic case for all concerned, including the defendant and the victim's family and friends.
He said that on September 10th at Pier Road, a fight broke out among a number of young people following a confrontation between one of them and a girl who allegedly was saying nasty things about the man's mother.
A punch was thrown at Mr Fehilly, hitting him in the face band knocking him to the ground. He hit either the pavement or the wall with what witnesses described as "a desperate thud" and sustained a serious head injury. He died four days later in hospital.
Mr Vaughan Buckley said it was accepted that Mr Pierce did not intend to kill or to seriously injure Mr Fehilly when he struck him.
On September 14th the accused went to a Garda station and made a statement. In it, Mr Pierce said he saw two or three men gather around the blond teenager, who was about 16. He did not know them but they appeared to be arguing. He saw her being pushed and she fell to the ground. She got up and went to grab the person who pushed her and she was pushed again.
He saw his brother Liam try to break it up, telling them to stop. One of the men asked him what he was going to do about it. He saw Mr Fehilly line his brother up for a punch, but before he struck, Mr Pierce said, he hit him with his fist half-closed and made a pretty good contact with his face. He saw Mr Fehilly fall, but did not see him land.
Then a fight broke out which lasted about 30 seconds. The fellow he hit was still lying on the ground and they left and went home because they wanted to avoid further trouble.
Mr Donal Deasy said he saw the punch being thrown and Mr Fehilly's head hit the pavement, making a sound similar to someone dropping a concrete block.
Mr Patrick Gregory Fehilly said the "blondie Dennehy girl" was saying nasty things about his mother and he told her to ... . off and leave them alone, but she persisted.
His brother Ger pushed her and she fell on her bottom. She sat there laughing at them.
Mr Fehilly said he was hit by a man and went over the bonnet of a car. When he got up his brother was lying on the ground unconscious. "I went over to him, but he did not move. He was just flat on the ground unconscious," he said, adding that they had never been in trouble before.
The trial continues today.