A MAN accused of murder has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court that he stabbed a man because he was trying to protect himself and the woman he was with.
Kevin Keohane (34), of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Renars Tuleiko (32) at Parnell Park, Thurles, Co Tipperary on a date unknown between April 13th and 15th, 2007.
Victoria Moverley (32), also of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to assisting in concealing the body and burning his clothes.
She also pleaded not guilty to the charge of assault causing him serious harm.
It is the prosecution's case that Mr Keohane stabbed Mr Tuleiko, a Latvian mechanic, during a drunken row before he and Ms Moverley concealed the body and fled to England.
The court has previously heard that Mr Keohane and Ms Moverley had been living in a tent at Parnell Park for two weeks prior to the alleged incident.
Mr Keohane told his counsel Peter Finlay SC that he and Ms Moverley went to sleep in the tent after drinking by the campfire with Mr Tuleiko.
"I woke up later on to Vicky screaming outside the tent. She was calling for help. 'Kevin, wake up, he's cut me, he's got a knife'.
"I ran out of the tent and ran to Renars and punched him into the head. The two of us ended up on the ground. He was on top of me. I was pushing his hand away. He had a knife in his hand. I managed to roll him off me. I tried to pull the knife out of his fingers. The knife ended up somewhere on the ground beside him. I got the knife first." Mr Keohane said that he stabbed Mr Tuleiko "somewhere around the upper part of his body."
The jury has previously heard that Mr Keohane told gardaí in an interview last December that he stabbed Mr Tuleiko in the neck "to finish him off."
Mr Keohane told Mr Finlay yesterday that the gardaí "weren't listening to what I was telling them . . . I wasn't even planning on making the trial at that stage. I felt that my life was over. I was planning on taking my life."
He also said that he did "not intend" to kill Mr Tuleiko.
Mr Finlay asked, "Did it occur to you there was a high chance you could kill the man?" "No, I was just trying to protect us," Mr Keohane said.
Last week, the court heard evidence from State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy that the small finger of Mr Tuleiko's right hand was amputated after he died.
Evidence has finished and closing speeches from prosecution and defence are expected to be heard tomorrow.