A Wicklow woman has told the Central Criminal Court that she "can remember absolutely nothing" about a fatal stabbing of a man in a Bray pub six years ago, even though she gave two statements to gardaí in 1999.
Ms Loretta Smith, Enniskerry, Co Wicklow, told the murder trial that "the last few years have been a blur" because of her heroin addiction.
Mr Richard O'Carroll (34), Bray, Co Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Keith Fortune (27), Dargle Road, Bray.
Mr Fortune allegedly died as a result of an incident at the William Dargan Inn, Goldsmith Terrace, Quinsboro Road, Bray, on May 2nd, 1999. He was in the company of a family celebrating the christening of a child.
Ms Smith was deemed a hostile witness by Ms Justice Dunne. Last week the judge also deemed her sister, Ms Jacqueline Smith, to be a hostile witness.
Mr Barry Hickson SC, prosecuting, suggested to Ms Smith that her memory loss was "deliberate". "This is a strategy adopted by you and you are deliberately not remembering." He then read Ms Smith's statements to gardaí taken in the days after the murder.
Ms Smith told the gardaí in May 1999 that she knew Mr Fortune "for years" and that he "wasn't a man for fighting, there wasn't a bad bone in his body".
In her statement she said she saw the accused "hold Keith Fortune with one hand" and was "jabbing him in the stomach with the other hand". On the night of the fatal stabbing she was in the company of Mr Fortune in the William Dargan Inn. She told gardaí that after last orders she heard screaming and shouting coming from outside.
After she ran into the hallway she saw Mr Fortune collapse on to his knees. "He said to me, 'what have I done? I haven't done anything'," Ms Smith told gardaí. Mr Fortune allegedly then said to Ms Smith: "Loretta, I didn't deserve this." The jury heard that Ms Smith "kept talking" to Mr Fortune but his "breathing kept getting shallow and shallow".
Ms Smith told gardaí she was sober on the night of the stabbing, saying she did not drink at all.
After each statement was read, Mr Hickson asked Ms Smith did she remember anything at all, to which she replied "No" each time.