A CO Wicklow man told a murder trial jury yesterday how he stabbed his father during a violent struggle at the family home because he "feared for his life".
Mr Thomas Heaney said he stabbed his father, Peter, in the stomach after his father had said he was "a mad f.. . ing bastard" like his late mother.
He was giving defence evidence on the fourth day of his trial at the Central Criminal Court.
Mr Heaney, a 28 year old electrician, has denied the murder of his father, Peter Heaney (59), at Marian Villas, Arklow, Co Wicklow on October 9th, 1994.
Heaney told his counsel, Mr Brendan Grogan SC, that his mother died in May, 1991, of cancer. He said that before his mother died his father was being unfaithful and he had an argument with him about it.
Mr Heaney said that after his mother died his father had a relationship with Mrs Anne Killeen. He said that he had "verbal rows" with his father but did not strike him and added: "I could not hit my father."
Mr Heaney told the jury that on the night of October 8th he had been drinking gin in his bedroom and fell asleep. He woke up when he heard his father's van outside and he heard his father and Mrs Killeen coming into the house.
Mrs Killeen asked him to join them downstairs but he did not say anything. He said he went back to the bedroom and kicked the mirror which broke, because he was upset. He drank more gin and heard Mrs Killeen leaving the house. He went downstairs and asked his father outside for a fist fight but his father told him to "quieten down" and sit down.
His father then said he was like his mother "a mad f. . . ing bastard". Mr Heaney said his late mother was a manic depressive who had mood swings and had received treatment in psychiatric hospitals.
Asked by Mr Grogan how he reacted to his father, Mr Heaney replied: "There was a knife beside my right leg on the coffee table. I picked up the knife and I stabbed my father."
Mr Heaney said he stabbed his father once in the stomach. His father put his head forward and groaned.
"I thought he died. He appeared to me to be dead," he said.
He went upstairs and drank from the bottle of gin. He then went back downstairs. He noticed his father was breathing. He dialed 999 and asked for an ambulance.
He started to shake his father and, as he checked for a pulse his father grabbed him and pulled him. He could see his father raising a carving knife as he pulled him. Mr Heaney said he fell on top of his father and struggled with the knife.
"It was a violent struggle. He was trying to raise the knife to stab me and I was using my hands to stop him raising the knife. I was terrified. I believe my father was terrified as well. I managed to get the knife off my father.
Mr Heaney said his father then tried to get another knife from the coffee table. "I was terrified, absolutely terrified," he said.
"I kept saying stop. He wouldn't stop, he just wouldn't stop. He was reaching for the knife. I was able to move back but my father was still holding me with one hand and reaching for the knife with the other hand.
"I feared for my life. I stabbed him with the carving knife," he added.
Mr Heaney said he had stabbed his father "more than once" and added: "I kept stabbing him."
The trial continues.