Man accused of murdering his friend in underground car park
A man has gone on trial for the alleged murder of his friend at Farrankelly Road in Delgany, Co Wicklow seven years ago.
Thomas O’Connor of Burnaby Court in Greystones admits beating John O’Brien with a rock, but denies his murder.
Thomas O’Connor and John O’Brien spent the evening of June 4, 2010 drinking in the underground car park of a supermarket in Greystones.
Denis Vaughan Buckley, who’s prosecuting, told the jurors they had hear evidence that Mr O’Brien struck two younger men later that day for no apparent reason and that he had to be restrained by the accused.
He said they would hear from witnesses who saw a man wearing a grey hoodie beating another man who was on the ground at Farrankelly roundabout.
Mr O’Connor’s ex-girlfriend will also give evidence, he said, of the accused washing his blood-stained hands with bleach at her house sometime between 11pm and midnight, and that he claimed someone jumped him earlier that night with a knife.
The accused, who was 22 at the time, accepts that his friend died from blunt force trauma to the head and that he inflicted the injuries with a rock but he denies the murder charge.
