A sister of a man accused of murder has told a court how she was beaten by her boyfriend just minutes before he was found lying on the ground with his throat cut.
Ms Louise McNamara appeared as a witness in the trial of 31 year-old Mr Johnny "Taz" McNamara, who is charged with the murder of Mr John O'Sullivan (27), at Pineview Gardens, Moyross, Limerick, on August 13th, 2001.
Mr McNamara, Craeval Park, Moyross, pleaded not guilty to the charge at the Central Criminal Court which sat in Limerick yesterday.
The jury of eight men and four women heard that Ms McNamara had been involved in a relationship with Mr O'Sullivan for "about two years, on and off".
The deceased was frequently violent towards Ms McNamara, and the night he was killed he had punched her repeatedly after she came home from the pub, Mr Justice Carney heard.
When she arrived at the door of Mr O'Sullivan's house in Craeval Park in the early hours of August 13th 2001, he called her a "whore". Then he knocked a bag of chips out of her hand and began to punch her in the face, the court heard.
Ms McNamara told Mr Brendan Nix, SC, prosecuting,that she fled the house and ran across the road to where her brother Mr Johnny 'Taz' McNamara lived. She banged on the door but there was no reply so she ran down the road and hid behind a wall, the court heard.
After a few minutes, Mr O'Sullivan found her and started to beat her again and dragged her around the ground.
Then her brother came out of his house and after screaming at the pair, chased her boyfriend up a laneway.
Ms McNamara was busy wiping blood from her face and didn't notice whether her brother was carrying a knife, the court heard.
Under cross-examination, Ms McNamara told Mr Anthony Salmon, SC, defending, the next time she saw her brother was when he came back out of the lane.
The trial also heard evidence from ambulance driver, Mr Gerry Cronin, that when he arrived at the scene he saw a man lying on the ground with a laceration to his throat.
The man wasn't breathing and he was taken by ambulance to Limerick Regional Hospital where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
The murder trial is expected to last for the rest of the week at the Central Criminal Court, currently sitting in Limerick.
This is the first time in the history of the State that a murder trial has taken place outside Dublin.
The decision was taken to move the Central Criminal Court to the city because of the backlog of outstanding Limerick murder trials.