A Co Kerry man accused of murder admitted to his friend that he had killed a teenager, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mr Michael O'Brien told his friend Mr Darren O'Shea: "Between me and you, deputy, I killed James," the jury was told.
Mr O'Brien (27), single and unemployed, of Gallowsfield, Tralee, Co Kerry, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of James Healy (16), of Shanakill, Tralee, Co Kerry at Monavalley Industrial Estate, Tralee on or about February 22nd, 1997.
Mr O'Brien and the deceased were allegedly associates who drank cider together occasionally at different places in Tralee town.
After having been missing for three days, Mr Healy's body was found on waste ground near a factory off the Monavalley Road in Tralee. Giving evidence, Mr Darren O'Shea said he had had a conversation with the accused on St Patrick's night, weeks after Mr Healy's murder, and had asked him who he thought "did it".
Mr O'Brien allegedly replied "Between me and you, deputy, I killed James."
Mr O'Shea told the court that he and Mr O'Brien and a few others were drinking beer at a sports centre in Tralee on St Patrick's night when the alleged confession was made. "We were talking about the murder. I asked him who did he think did it. He said himself," Mr O'Shea said.
Mr O'Brien allegedly told Mr O'Shea that a few friends, including Mr Healy and the accused, were drinking in a boat shed when "Michael and James got in an argument".
"James tried to go home and he followed him and James gave him cheek and he took something out of his pocket and hit him in the head or the face with it."
Mr O'Shea said Mr O'Brien told him that he then "lost the head".
Mr O'Brien "kept beating" Mr Healy and brought him to a field using a "bar" at his chest. Mr O'Brien then allegedly told Mr O'Shea that he "put the bar on the body, made his way through the fields" and went home.
The trial, before Mr Justice Dermot Kinlen and a jury of eight women and four men, continues today.