A 16-year-old Laois teenager who allegedly hammered a friend to death over a mobile phone pleaded not guilty to his murder, at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Daragh Conroy (14), of Briar Lane, Mountmellick, Co Laois.
Mr Conroy's body was found on waste ground in an area known as Smith's Field on the town's outskirts at around 11 p.m. on November 11th, 2003.
In his opening speech, Mr Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, alleged that the accused, who was aged 15 at the time of the alleged murder, inflicted the fatal injuries.
The deceased, he said, "sustained traumatic force to his head especially to the rear of the head". He said the injuries were caused with a hammer wielded by the accused.
Mr Sammon said "Daragh Conroy had a mobile phone that was of interest to the accused", and said a "desire on behalf of the accused" for a mobile phone was a "significant factor to the killing of Daragh Conroy".
"It is the prosecution's contention that when the fatal injury was administered to Daragh, it was done with intention to kill", Mr Sammon said.
The jury heard that the victim met his death between the hours of 5.15 p.m. and 5.45 p.m. on the evening of November 11th, 2003.
The jury heard Mr Sammon alleged the accused had spoken to his peer group about the murder, and as a result "had formulated the intention to cause the death of the deceased".
A 16-year-old girl, who cannot be named for legal reasons, testified that she rang gardaí in Portlaoise after receiving a phone call from a teenager in Laois at 10.50 p.m. on November 11th, 2003.
It was this phone call that alerted gardaí in Mountmellick to the body of Mr Conroy at Smith's Field in the town.
A statement by a Dr Patrick O'Dwyer was read out in court. It said the deceased had a "massive depressed skull fracture with brain tissue visible", and that the victim had been "possibly dead for about six hours".
Det Thomas Carey, of the Garda Technical Bureau, said he went to the crime scene on November 12th, 2003. He found at the back of the deceased's head "fragments of skull and brain tissue and a lot of blood". Det Carey said he went to a house in Mountmellick where behind a tree in the back garden gardaí found a hammer.
The trial continues before Mr Justice White.