The evidence concerning Andrew Frame: Nine days ago Mr Andrew Frame was found not guilty of manslaughter by direction of Judge Michael White. Yesterday the jury acquitted him of violent disorder as well.
Judge White directed that a conviction of Mr Frame on the manslaughter charge would be "completely unsafe" because it was based on the evidence of just one eye-witness, Mr Fiachra O'Brien. This evidence was "unreliable and infirm", according to the judge, and was not corroborated by any other witness.
Mr O'Brien had told the court he saw Mr Frame throw a running punch at Mr Brian Murphy on the night he was killed. He also said he was wearing a long-sleeved blue shirt. Mr O'Brien acknowledged he was very drunk that night. The court was earlier told that Mr Frame was in fact wearing a short-sleeved grey shirt that night.
Judge White said that Mr O'Brien was the only person who placed Mr Frame in the main group assaulting Mr Murphy. Mr Frame told the court that when he left Club Anabel he saw a group of about four youths who were mocking him. Later he said that he was punched on the cheek from behind, and began swinging his arms over his shoulder to try to break free from his attacker, who he believed to have been Mr Murphy. It emerged in court that in fact he had been punched by another youth, Mr Michael Hussey.
He said that this was the only time in the entire incident he raised his hands.
He said he began to walk towards the city centre to get away from the incident, and when he looked back he saw Mr Murphy lying on the ground with a group of people standing around him. "I didn't see what happened to Brian Murphy or who might have been involved," he told the court.
He also said that after the incident a number of people accused him of being involved in it, but he denied that he was.
He admitted not telling the Gardaí the whole story of his initial involvement in the fight because he did not want to incriminate himself in relation to the more serious part of the incident. He said this was "a stupid thing to do", and that he now regretted it.