A witness to a killing told a murder trial jury yesterday that he saw two men fighting and one of them being stabbed.
Mr William Monaghan told the Central Criminal Court that he was sitting at the window of his home in Manor Street, Waterford, when he noticed two men fighting on the street.
One man fell on to his back and he was "pleading" with the man on top" and "kind of putting his hands up in a defensive manner".
The witness said that about 15 seconds later he saw a knife in the right hand of one of the men and he could see blood coming from beneath the man lying on the ground.
It was the opening day of the trial of a 32-year-old Albanian man for the murder of a Belfast man in Waterford in August, 2001. Mr Isuf Kryzi, also known as Mr Ismet Ceka, an Albanian Kosovar with an address at Manor Street, Waterford, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Thomas McAuley (44), Farringdon Court, Ardoyne on August 13th, 2001, at Manor Street.
Mr Monaghan told the jury he saw the second man running in the direction of the hostel on Manor Street. Earlier, the jury heard that the deceased was stabbed to death during an altercation on Manor Street at around 7.50 p.m.
Prosecution counsel, Mr Edward Comyn SC, said there was a degree of "animus" between the accused and Mr Thomas McAuley.
The court heard that the deceased man had had a relationship with Ms Samantha O'Brien and they had a five-year-old daughter.
When the relationship ended, Ms O'Brien began a new relationship with Mr Kryzi. "The deceased believed, or had reason to believe, that his daughter was in some way being assaulted by the accused man," Mr Comyn told the court.
The State's case is that the accused stabbed Mr McAuley six times and that when he was arrested shortly after the killing "he was found in possession of a blood-stained knife".
That knife was consistent with "the shape and size" of the wounds inflicted on the deceased, the court heard.
Prosecution counsel told the jury they would hear evidence that the accused man bought the knife 3½ hours before the killing.
The trial before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury continues today.