A witness in the Central Criminal Court trial of a man accused of killing a father of two and assaulting another man during a disturbance outside a house in north Dublin told gardaí he heard someone being hit with baseball bats on the night of the incident.
Mark Hempenstall told prosecuting counsel Seán Guerin he got out of a taxi near Clonshaugh Drive, Coolock, and saw a large group of people. A man ran past him waving a crutch shouting: "He's dead, he's dead." He turned and saw a man lying in the middle of the road, so he rang the emergency services.
Peter Dolan (42), Tulip Court, Darndale, denies the murder of Raymond Brown at Clonshaugh Drive on April 2nd, 2005. He also denies assaulting Emmet Taaffe on the same occasion. Mr Hempenstall told Brendan Grehan, defending: "I could hear the screaming of people who were screaming from being hit with bats."
Earlier, Mr Brown's wife Laura told Paul Burns, prosecuting, that Mr Brown, a plasterer, had been working at a house in Darndale. When he finished work he rang her as he was going to a benefit in the nearby Inis Fáil GAA club.Shortly after 2am some neighbours called and told her her husband had been taken to hospital. Mr Brown died shortly before 2pm that day.
Mr Burns told the jury that they would be hearing evidence over the week-long trial that would convince them that Mr Dolan had stabbed Mr Brown and injured Mr Taaffe during the fight.