A Central Criminal Court jury in the trial of a Wicklow man accused of murder has been told the only conclusion to be reached is one of murder.
Mr Barry Hickson SC, prosecuting, told the jury in his closing speech that the fatal stabbing of Mr Keith Fortune was in fact murder.
Mr Richard O'Carroll (33), Greenpark Road, Bray, Co Wicklow, and Cois Sleibhe, Southern Cross Road, Bray, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Fortune (27), Hazelwood Upper, Dargle Road, Bray.
Mr Fortune allegedly died as a result of an incident at the William Dargan Inn in Bray in the early hours of May 2nd, 1999. He was in the company of family celebrating the christening of a child earlier that day.
Mr Hickson said there was an attempt made during the trial to "blacken" the deceased's character with references to him being barred from the pub in which the fatal incident occurred. "Maybe he was no angel," Mr Hickson said, but "other witnesses said he was a grand fella."
Mr Hickson said there were "differences" between the many State witnesses. "Some couldn't remember, some could partially remember and one witness, Mr Paddy O'Connor, didn't appear at all," he said.
The prosecutor went on to say to the jury that "there is an apparent contradiction in the State witnesses". He made reference to Mr Garrreth O'Brien, a State witness, who told the court a different version of events from what he told gardaí almost six years ago in his statement.
The court heard that in the days after the fatal incident, Mr O'Brien told gardaí that he saw the deceased in the pub but didn't speak to him. But last week he told the jury that the deceased produced a knife to cut cannabis after they smoked a joint together in the hours before the fatal stabbing. "This evidence now presents Keith Fortune with a knife and this is the first time we heard this, nearly six years later," Mr Hickson told the jury.
Mr Paul Ramsey SC, defending, told the jury that the deceased "took exception to Richard O'Carroll and mocked his handicapped child".
"We say it was Keith Fortune that beckoned the accused over and it was Keith Fortune that was the moving force that night," Mr Ramsey said. He said it was "clear from the evidence" that the question of self-defence arises.
Mr O'Carroll "did not engineer the situation, the deceased did", Mr Ramsey said. The accused man, Mr Ramsey said, has a child with Down's Syndrome. It was alleged during the trial that the deceased man said, "You're the guy with the mongol" to Mr O'Carroll in the William Dargan Inn.
Mr Ramsey asked the jurors what would happen if they were the parent of a handicapped child and heard "that kind of a remark". "Might that have an impact?" he asked.
Mr Ramsey said Mr O'Carroll "is not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter". Ms Justice Elizabeth Dunne will begin her address to the jury today.