A man (24) approached paramedics at an ambulance to tell them he had been stabbed in the chest and then asked them if he was going to die just moments before he collapsed on the ground, never to regain consciousness, a murder trial has heard.
Witness Luke Quinn told the trial of Tyler Jackson (26) at the Central Criminal Court how he saw Mr Jackson, then aged 21 and known as Tiggy, strike out with his fist and hit his cousin Conor Quinn in the chest during a confrontation in Mallow in north Cork on July 12th, 2018.
Luke Quinn said Conor had been with him and his brother, Stephen; his sister, Samantha; and their uncle, Richard Cannon, in Stephen’s black Audi when Conor spotted Mr Jackson outside Cremin’s Cycles on Bridge Street in Mallow at around 8.40pm and he ran across the road towards him.
“That’s when Tiggy stabbed Conor into the chest. I saw them go close – I just saw one blow from the right hand of Tiggy to the chest. Conor fell. He came back across the road. He took off his T-shirt and held it to his chest and I could see blood and he said, ‘He’s after stabbing me’.
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“I stayed with him – he went up to the ambulance (that was stuck in traffic) and he said to them: ‘I’m after being stabbed, I’m after being stabbed, am I going to die?’ I held Conor up. He had the T-shirt up to his wound. He fell to the ground ... It was a very traumatic day, it was more like a movie.”
Mr Quinn was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of Mr Jackson, who denied the murder of Conor Quinn at Bridge Street, Mallow, on July 12th, 2018, when he was arraigned before a jury of eight men and four women at the Central Criminal Court sitting at the Anglesea Street Courthouse in Cork.
Cross-examined by defence counsel Brian McInerney, SC for Mr Jackson, Mr Quinn said he could not remember Conor punching Mr Jackson and he never saw Conor with a weapon, and while gardaí found a Stanley knife in the boot of Stephen’s car, it was a tool they used for work purposes.
Mr McInerney put it to Mr Quinn that it was Mr Jackson’s contention that Conor Quinn was out that evening “to do him down” and he [Mr Jackson] had no knife on him and the only person who could have had a knife was Conor Quinn. Luke Quinn replied that he found that “hard to believe”,
Earlier, Mr Quinn had told how he and his brother and his sister and their uncle had gone with Conor to Cahirmee Horse Fair in Buttevant and Conor had a couple of drinks but that he did not believe he was intoxicated when they came back into Mallow that night to get food at the Kentucky chipper.
Mr Quinn said they were parked outside the Kentucky chipper on Davis St when Conor jumped out of the car after he saw Mr Jackson on the street, and he went and confronted him. “They squared up – Tiggy backed on to the road and put up his fists – there was a lot of calling and then Tiggy ran off.”
They got their food and drove off, intending to head home to Killavullen but as they were driving across Mallow bridge, Conor spotted a group of lads in the Town Park and jumped out of the car, so they pulled up nearby and his brother, Stephen and uncle, Richard Cannon went looking for him, the court was told.
Cross-examined by Mr McInerney, Mr Quinn said that Conor might have had two or three drinks in Buttevant earlier that evening and when Mr McInerney said that a toxicology report showed Conor had cocaine in his system, Mr Quinn said he never saw his cousin take any drugs that day.
Witness Stephen Quinn confirmed his Garda statement that Conor had said about Mr Jackson and others: “I’m vexed over those bastards”. But Stephen Quinn rejected Mr McInerney’s thesis that given Mr Jackson denied ever having a knife, Conor must have had it. “That is totally incorrect,” he said.
Witness Samantha Quinn told how she had seen her cousin Conor Quinn confront Mr Jackson near the Kentucky earlier in the night but there was no physical interaction between them, unlike what happened 40 minutes later when Conor jumped out of the car to confront Mr Jackson on Bridge Street.
“Tiggy [Mr Jackson] had his hands up – his two fists – and he put one of his hands straight towards Conor’s chest – his sleeve was up high so I couldn’t see what was in his hands (but) Tiggy stabbed my cousin, Conor in the chest,” said Ms Quinn.
Cross-examined by Mr McInerney, Ms Quinn said Conor had some drink in a pub in Buttevant earlier in the day, but she did not believe he was drunk or under the influence of any other intoxicant and she denied he was “hopping mad” in the car in Mallow.
Mr McInerney asked Ms Quinn if she would be surprised to learn that a toxicology report on Mr Quinn showed that he had an alcohol concentration level of 181mg as well as cocaine in his system. Ms Quinn said she did not know anything about her cousin taking drugs.
Mr McInerney put it to Ms Quinn that “at no time that evening did Tyler Jackson have a knife or a blade. Nor did he stab Conor Quinn”. Ms Quinn replied: “So why did Conor die? Why did he have a lesion in his chest that we could see?”
The case continues.
