A woman has admitted that she had "a small row" with her brother, who is accused of threatening to kill her, after he came to her home to collect a photograph and a video of his children.
Hassan Hassan (38), Rivervalley Close, Swords, has pleaded not guilty at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court to making a threat to kill or cause Rawaa Hassan serious harm at her home on August 9th, 2005.
Ms Hassan, speaking through an interpreter, said her brother became annoyed when she explained to him that his children did not appear in a video she had taken in Lebanon while visiting family.
"He got annoyed and insulted me. It was a small row."
She said that "my people speak loudly" and, when her daughter heard the conversation she thought there was a dispute and called gardaí.
"My daughter cannot speak Arabic and she didn't understand. Just believe me that my daughter has trouble speaking Arabic," she told the jury.
Ms Hassan agreed with Erwan Mill Arden SC, defending, that she had gone to Lebanon on holiday in August 2005 when her brother's children were staying with family there.
Her brother understood that she had taken a video and photographs of his children and on her return to Ireland he phoned her to see if he could collect them.
Ms Hassan said she was busy at the time of the call and her husband took the phone and invited the accused to call over to the house to collect them.
She accepted her brother had understood from talking to her husband that there was both a video and a photograph.
She said "a small row" broke out between her and her brother but there "was not an issue or problem".
The trial continues before Judge Frank O'Donnell and a jury of 10 women and two men.