A man accused of murder allegedly told gardai he fetched knives to save his friend from a mob minutes before he stabbed another man to death, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mr Michael Doyle (22), of Tonduff Close, Greenpark, Greenhills, Tallaght, has denied murdering Mr Mark O'Keeffe (20) on May 30th, 1997, at a football pitch in Tallaght, west Dublin.
Det Sgt Tony Healy said Mr Doyle had told gardai he had been attacked by a gang of around 10 youths, one of whom tried to stab him with a Stanley knife.
After running away and returning from the house with the knives, Mr Doyle said, a man whom he did not know approached him with his arms outstretched.
"I raised the knives and tried to stop him but he just kept coming."
Asked by gardai if he saw this man as a threat, Mr Doyle allegedly replied that he did.
"I raised both my hands with the knives so he could see I had the knives. I stabbed him then. I know I stabbed him."
Asked by gardai why he went back to the house, he allegedly replied: "To scare them away and to rescue (a friend) Patrick."
A prosecution witness, Mr Leighton Kelly, told the court that Mr O'Keeffe had assaulted the accused man during a scuffle among a group of four or five people on the football pitch minutes before the fatal stabbing.
The trial resumes on Monday.