A Kilkenny man has told an attempted-murder trial that he lost two legs and one finger after one of his friends threw him on to a fire. Mr Paul Barry said he was very drunk but could feel the back of his neck burning like rubber.
He said that he first asked his friend, Mr Thomas O'Grady, what he was doing and Mr O'Grady replied: "I'm just buzzin.' " Mr Barry told prosecution counsel Mr Edward Comyn SC that he first felt someone punch him in the face after a late-night drinking party in a field. He asked Mr O'Grady what happened and got no reply.
He then felt someone beat him over the head with a rock but he couldn't move because he was so drunk.
He woke up the next morning as he was being taken into an ambulance. Doctors told him the following day that they would have to amputate both legs below the knees.
Mr O'Grady (20) of Fatima Place, Kilkenny, has pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Mr Barry (29) at two separate times on October 10th, 1999, at Pennefatherslot on Hebron Road in the north-east of Kilkenny city.
He has also pleaded not guilty to two counts of causing serious harm to Mr Barry by injuring his head and by burning his lower limbs.
Mr Barry said he and Mr O'Grady were the last two people left at the drinks party. "We were still drunk and before I knew it, I got a bang of a rock," he said.
He couldn't remember much after that because of the force of the rock and because he had a lot of drink taken.
He recalled a burning sensation and being unable to move. "Before I knew it, there was blood all over me." Cross-examined by defence counsel, Mr Anthony Sammon SC, Mr Barry agreed that he was 29 years old and had never worked. He also agreed that he began drinking when he was 10 years old and that he was more drunk on the night of October 10th, 1999, than he had ever been before.
He denied that he had been in a fight with a youth named John Maher earlier that night. He said he didn't fight "young fellas" like John Maher but it was possible they did have a fight. He also agreed that he might have fought that night with a friend of his, Peter Phelan, but had no recollection of doing so. He agreed with Mr Sammon that he was sometimes aggressive when he had drink taken.
The trial continues at the Central Criminal Court before Mr Justice Andrias O Caoimh.