A murder accused has told a prosecution barrister it is “100 per cent coincidental” that a few hours before he fatally stabbed his friend in the neck, he could be heard threatening to do so.
“This is your spin for the jury, this is your big play,” Joseph Lawlor told counsel for the State on Friday after being asked whether the sequence of events was a coincidence.
Lawlor, of Hampton Wood Road in Finglas, Dublin 11, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael Ryan (51) in a car park to the back of the accused man’s home on June 20th, 2024.
The accused denied he was angry at being disrespected and determined to “send a message” when he stabbed Michael Ryan with a knife before “calmly” walking away.
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Lawlor (39) said he was in fear after Ryan (51) broke in through his back door and threatened to throw grenades into his house.
He said Ryan then grabbed a bag that had almost €4,000 in it, which the accused claims was the profit from the sale of 27,000 Zopiclone (a medication for the treatment of insomnia) tablets. Lawlor said €2,000 belonged to him and the rest to Ryan.
Lawlor said Ryan walked back outside, through his garden gate and was heading towards the exit from the estate when he, the accused, followed carrying a knife in his left hand.
He described swinging at Ryan with the knife before, he said, Ryan struck him twice with the bag.
“Then I swung again with the knife. I just tried to nip him and get him away from the house. Get him to f**k off.”
Kevin White SC, for the prosecution, asked why Lawlor didn’t just allow Ryan to leave.
The accused said he had to scare Ryan away: “He was going to come back two minutes later ... He said he’s going to come back with lads.”
Lawlor described Ryan as a “capable and dangerous” man and said he took the threat of grenades being thrown through his door seriously. He accepted that by the time of the fatal encounter, he was wearing a bullet- and stab-proof vest and had armed himself with a knife, while Ryan was carrying only a rucksack.
Lawlor said he feared Ryan could “pull a gun and blow my head off”.
He accepted that he stabbed Ryan in the neck, causing his death, but said he had no intention to cause him harm. He said he did not aim for the neck, describing it as a “million to one shot” and an accident.
He described Ryan as his friend and accepted that in Garda interviews, he described the deceased as a “lovely man”.
White put it to the accused that earlier that day, he had repeatedly punched Ryan in the face and had strangled him until he turned purple during fights that were captured on CCTV.
Lawlor described these as “little arguments” and said he repeatedly asked Ryan to leave, but he refused.
White asked him whether it was a coincidence that, in an audio recording of an argument inside Lawlor’s home a few hours before the fatal stabbing, he could be heard threatening to stab Mr Ryan in the neck.
“Stop,” replied Lawlor. “This is your spin for the jury, this is your big play. It’s 100 per cent coincidental.”
White suggested that Lawlor was not scared or defending himself, but was feeling disrespected following the earlier arguments and wanted to “send a message that nobody threatens Joey Lawlor”.
Lawlor replied: “Of course you have to say stuff like this.”
Following the stabbing, Lawlor was recorded saying as he walked back towards his house: “There will be no pineapples going through my door.” Pineapple, the trial has heard, is slang for a grenade.
“None of this would have happened if he hadn’t broken into my house and threatened to throw grenades,” he told the court.
