A young Dublin woman told a murder trial yesterday that the man who died had threatened to rape her, her niece and her mother and she admitted she was not sorry he was dead.
Ms Natasha Gavin was giving evidence in the Central Criminal Court in the trial of a man accused of the murder of Joseph Sutcliffe (32) in Rialto in Dublin.
Mr Anthony Burke (34), Clancarty Road, Donnycarney, Dublin, has denied murdering the father-of-three on October 13th, 2002, in Fatima Mansions.
Ms Gavin told Mr Justice Carney and the jury she had not seen Mr Sutcliffe for some days before he died, as they had a falling out. She had been out with him while he was "selling gear". She fell out with the former All-Ireland boxing champion when he punched her.
"I knew he had broken his own kids' arms," she said. Her mother wanted her to report the assault but "he said if I said anything to the guards, he'd storm the house, rape me, rape my niece and my ma".
Ms Aisling McHugh (29), told the court that she had spent his last day with Mr Sutcliffe in Mr Noel Cahill's flat.
She had left to work as a prostitute and when she returned, the men were very drunk. She said a man came in to warn Mr Sutcliffe there was going to be a fight. Mr Sutcliffe insisted on staying.
More people arrived and an argument broke out. "Joe was still dazed because he was just after waking up. He got a punch to the face. That woke him up a bit.There were more punches. I was shouting to leave him alone," she recalled.
"He asked why he was being hit. Someone shouted: 'You don't hit my nephew, you don't call my nephew a bastard'. Joe said he didn't hit his nephew."
Mr Cahill awoke. He was annoyed, she said, and asked everyone to leave.
When they went outside she lost sight of Mr Sutcliffe. When she found him, "he started crouching. Next of all he collapsed. I took off my jacket and put it over him. There was blood coming out of his nose. He lifted up his top and there was a tiny wound, but it wasn't bleeding."
The trial continues.