A Cork man who was left in a coma after an attack and died nine months later, received "vicious" kicks to the head, a murder trial at the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mr Paul Sheehan (21) and Mr Ross Stapleton (22), both of The Glen, Cork, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Christian Scully (28), of Togher, Cork, on October 17th, 2002.
Mr Scully was on a life-support machine after being set upon by youths at Sober Lane in the city centre in the early hours of January 28th before suffering a cardiac arrest nine months later and dying on October 17th, 2002.
The prosecution claims that after Mr Scully left friends in a night club 1.30 a.m. he was set upon by two youths in Sober Lane.
At the same time Mr Stapleton left another night club, meeting Mr Sheehan. Mr Sheehan had been refused entry and was waiting for his friend outside the night club. It is claimed that the pair had been drinking since 3 p.m. in a bar in Fermoy before heading into the city centre sometime after midnight.
Yesterday Mr Eoghan Killoran, who lived in a flat in Sober Lane in January 2002, told the jury he was wakened by the noise in the laneway.
When he looked out his window he saw Mr Scully lying on the ground.
"Two boys" were standing over him as he lay on the ground. They were kicking him in the head. Mr Scully was unconscious at that stage, Mr Killoran said.
Ms Mary Ellen Ring SC, prosecuting, asked Mr Killoran what type of kick the boys were inflicting to Mr Scully. "The kicks were vicious", he said.
"I saw him being kicked, then he was moved. One of the lads picked him up and dragged him from the footpath to the centre of the laneway", Mr Killoran told the jury on the second day of the murder trial.
Ms Sinead Ni Fhaoilín, who also lived in the apartments at Sober Lane in January 2002, gave evidence.
She told the jury under cross-examination by Mr David Goldberg SC, defending Mr Stapleton, that Mr Scully "hit his head off the ground" after one of the youths let him go.
Ms Joan Nolan, a youth worker in Cork in January 2002, told the jury that she knew Mr Stapleton, who was homeless and having accommodation difficulties.
The day after the attack on Mr Scully, Ms Nolan said, Mr Stapleton called in to her at work. He asked her had she read about the assault the previous night in the newspaper, Ms Nolan said.
Mr Stapleton seemed to be under the influence of drugs at the time, she said.
Later that day she saw him outside her office again, and Mr Stapleton said "he couldn't stop, he was on the run".
Two days later, Ms Nolan said, Mr Stapleton said to her at her office that "he was going down".
"He said he'd spoken to the gardaí and everybody in The Glen knew he'd done what happened on Sunday night."
Ms Nolan said Mr Stapleton told her he hadn't slept in three days and was out of home.
"He said he sometimes took drugs; ecstasy with alcohol sometimes," she said.
Mr Goldberg asked Ms Nolan if Mr Stapleton had ever said that he "lost the head completely" as a result.
"On Friday, January 25th, 2002, he did say that," she replied.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Butler.