The mother of a man accused of murder told a jury in the Central Criminal Court in Dublin yesterday that remarks attributed to her son in her statement to gardai were not true.
Prosecuting counsel, Mr John Edwards SC, read out part of the statement in question, where the accused allegedly said: "If they're looking for [the deceased] he's over in the field with his head bashed in."
Mrs Brigid O'Brien, of Gallowsfield, Tralee, Co Kerry, denied ever putting the remark in her statement to gardai, and said the remark was not true.
Mr Michael "John the Bobs" O'Brien (27), single and unemployed, of Gallowsfield, Tralee, Co Kerry, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of James Healy (16), of Shanakill, Tralee, at Monavalley Industrial Estate, Tralee, on or about February 22nd, 1997.
Mr Edwards said: "I know Michael is your son and I know any mother would stand up for their son but you know full well that what's in your statement is the truth."
Asked did gardai read out her statement to her at the time it was made, Mrs O'Brien said she said `yes' and agreed that the signature at the bottom was her own.
During cross-examination by the defence, Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC asked Mrs O'Brien if some time later she recalled reading an article in a national Sunday paper about the murder. She said she did.
Mrs O'Brien then agreed that she had asked her son did he kill James Healy but that he had told her that he "did not kill him and he was not up in that field".
Asked what sort of person her son was, Mrs O'Brien said: "He's not like my other son at all. He's got a psychiatric problem. He's a bit slow."
Mr Justice Kinlen warned the jury that Mrs O'Brien's written statement was "not evidence at all". He added: "The only evidence is what she said in the witness box."
Mr O'Brien and the deceased were allegedly associates who drank cider together occasionally at different places in Tralee.
After having been missing for three days, Mr Healy's body was found badly beaten on waste ground near a factory off the Monavalley Road in Tralee on February 25th, 1997, with metal piping lying across his chest.
The State Pathologist, Prof John Harbison, told the court Mr Healy had had 13 of his teeth knocked out, pieces of his jaw dislodged and 20 head injuries. Three and a half of his teeth were later found lodged in his windpipe and lungs.
Prof Harbison said he believed the teeth were inhaled, causing suffocation. Death was caused by suffocation, head injuries and shock.
The trial, before Mr Justice Kinlen and a jury of eight women and four men, continues today.