Wayne O'Donoghue confessed to gardaí how he had killed his 11-year-old neighbour and, as he stood beside the boy's body in the bathroom of his family home, he put a kitchen knife to his throat intending to kill himself , the Central Criminal Court heard.
According to gardaí, Mr O'Donoghue, from Ballyedmond, Midleton, told gardaí in a cautioned statement how he had killed Robert Holohan when the young boy called to his house and started throwing stones at his car when he refused a second time to bring him to McDonald's for a milk shake.
Mr O'Donoghue told Det Sgt Peter Kenny and Det Garda Michael O'Sullivan how he was in a state of panic after he brought Robert into the house on January 4th this year and was unable to revive him. He decided then to commit suicide.
"I looked at the mirror with the knife in my right hand which I placed to my throat . . . I was in complete shock and panic at what I had done and what had happened. I can't describe my feelings but my intention was to cut my throat," he said in his statement.
Mr O'Donoghue denies murdering Robert at Ballyedmond, Midleton, on January 4th, 2005, but has pleaded guilty to his manslaughter. The case continues before a jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
The court heard yesterday that Mr O'Donoghue made the statement to gardaí on January 16th, the day after Robert Holohan's funeral when, after reading a report in the Star newspaper, he decided that he had to tell his father what he had done.
Det Sgt Kenny told the court that Mr O'Donoghue described to gardaí how he went home and found his father in his bedroom and he started crying.
"I said 'I love you' and I said I was sorry, it was an accident and I didn't mean it, he asked me what did I mean. I said what happened to Robert," he said.
They both ended up crying and Ray O'Donoghue rang his wife, Therese, who returned home and her son told her what he had done.
"My mother said 'Oh God, please Wayne - tell me it's not true'. I told my parents that he was like a brother to me."
Mr O'Donoghue snr contacted the Garda and Wayne made a brief statement to the officers before the family called in a criminal lawyer, Frank Buttimer. Wayne made a detailed seven-hour statement to gardaí after caution and in the presence of Mr Buttimer.
In the statement, Mr O'Donoghue said how Robert called to the house at 2.30pm and asked him to take him to McDonald's to get a chocolate milkshake but he refused because he had already been down in Midleton and traffic was heavy.
"He said 'Don't be such an asshole'. I said 'f**k off . He went away. This would be usual banter between us, no offence would be taken or intended."
Robert went away but an hour later at 3.30pm he returned and came into the house when Mr O'Donoghue - who was alone - opened the door. Robert again asked him to take him to McDonald's but he refused. "Not a hope," he said, "I have loads to do.".
Robert walked out of the house and went to pick up his bicycle in the driveway but as he did so, he started popping pebbles at Mr O'Donoghue's Fiat Punto car, whereupon Mr O'Donoghue went and nudged him away from the car, his statement continued.
As he was returning to the house, Robert threw some more pebbles which hit him on the back of the head and hit the car again. He shouted: "Robert, will you ever grow up?" before going over and putting his right hand around his neck and jerking him away from the car. "I released the grip with my right hand but I was still holding him by the scruff of the neck with my left hand. Nothing was said between us at this stage. I then moved my left hand up to his Adam's apple and said, 'Will you stop with the f**king stones'.
"I can't described how tight I held him. I don't know how long I held him but it seemed very short. I didn't intend to cause any him harm or injure him.
"When I removed my left hand from his throat, he just fell to the ground.
"I did not realise at that time he had been hurt."
