A woman on trial for murdering a teenage mother of two by stabbing her in the chest outside a supermarket told gardaí she regretted the killing and wished she could turn back the clock.
Kelly Noble is on trial at the Central Criminal Court where she has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Emma McLoughlin (19) outside Pat's supermarket in Laytown, Co Meath, on June 2nd last year.
Ms Noble (21), Seaview, Laytown, also denies a second charge of unlawfully producing a knife in a manner likely to intimidate or inflict serious injury.
Det Garda Michael Callaghan told prosecuting counsel that he interviewed Ms Noble at Balbriggan Garda station on June 3rd. She said she had not intended to kill.
"No way, I just went to the shop to get milk for my kids."
She said she had got her friend Niamh Cullen to bring the knife to the scene because Ms McLoughlin would not "leave it" and Ms Noble believed she would "have got the head kicked off me."
She claimed Ms McLoughlin was saying: "Fight me. Now I'm not pregnant." Outside the shop, she said, she had the knife up her sleeve and let it slip down.
Det Garda Callaghan agreed with Michael O'Higgins SC, defending, that there had been an allegation that Ms McLoughlin had, in the past, threatened Ms Noble with a hammer.
He agreed Ms Noble had spoken about her past. Her parents were heroin addicts and her home environment was violent.
Her father died when she was 14 and she was in care before she became pregnant and settled in the Laytown area.
The jury was yesterday shown CCTV footage from inside Pat's supermarket which appeared to show Ms Noble being struck in the face by Ms McLoughlin before the fatal stabbing.
The prosecution has concluded its case and the trial continues today before Mr Justice Barry White and the jury.