Mother saw man twist knife in son, court told
The mother of a Cork man stabbed to death in the hallway of his own home has told a murder trial jury at the Central Criminal Court that she saw his assailant twist the knife in her son before she could stop him.
Mary McCarthy, mother of deceased man Noel McCarthy, aged 28, was giving evidence on the first day of the trial of Keith O’Donovan, aged 31, of Spriggs Road, Gurranabraher, Cork.
Mr O’Donovan was re-arraigned before Mr Justice Paul Butler this afternoon and pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Mr McCarthy at his home on Spriggs Road, Gurranabraher, Cork on May 4, 2000.
John Edwards, SC, prosecuting, told Justice Butler that the State was not proceeding with a case against a second man, James Hourigan, aged 34, of Harbour View Road, Knocknaheeny, Cork.
Mrs McCarthy told Mr Edwards that her son Noel had just returned from hospital at about 3.30am with a large wrap-around bandage on his head and a plaster on his face following an earlier incident at Mr O’Donovan’s house.
She told how she was standing with Noel and his friend Sean Green in her hallway when "a very loud bang came on the door".
"When Noel opened the latch of the door, the door was pushed in," said Mrs McCarthy. "I had my arm around Noel to support him. Keith O’Donovan and James Hourigan came in. Keith called either Noel or me a ‘cockroach’," she said.
She told the jury that her son said to the intruders: "In the name of God what are ye doing this to me for? What did I ever do to ye?"
She said she saw Mr O’Donovan "grunting, he was really grunting, his face was distorted". "When he came in I didn’t see any knife. The knife was put into the left groin and when the knife was in there he twisted it. He twisted the knife in my son," she said.
"The first time I saw the knife was when he was taking it out of my son," she added.
Mrs McCarthy said she grabbed the knife from Mr O’Donovan by the blade which was "covered in blood".
"He said ‘let the knife go and I’ll go’ and I said no. He said ‘let the knife go and I’ll go’," the jury heard.
Mrs McCarthy had earlier told the jury of two previous incidents on May 3, 2000.
She said she had just retired to bed at 10pm after spending the evening watching television with her sons Noel and Peter and four friends of theirs, when she heard a "tremendous loud bang" on the front sitting room window:
"I was going to come down but I heard Noel opening the door. I heard the voice of Keith O’Donovan and knowing him all my life I said ‘that’s only Keith’, and I got undressed and went to bed".
She told the court that she fell asleep but was woken up later by a second "disturbance".
"I looked out the window and I saw a man who was banging someone’s head on the steps," she said.
When she got to her front door she saw Mr O’Donovan and Mr Hourigan assaulting her son. "I was very angry, I cursed at him [Keith]," she said.
She told the court how she caught hold of Mr O’Donovan’s jumper and "managed to throw him into the garden to give Noel a chance to get up," while his four friends looked on from inside the front window.
"I got vexed with them because they didn’t help Noel. They were looking out the window and they didn’t help Noel, I was very annoyed at them" she added.
She said her son was "shaking and very pale" when he returned inside and decided to go to Mr O’Donovan’s house - four doors away - to demand an apology.
Mr McCarthy returned five minutes later with a head injury and was taken to hospital in a taxi, she said.
She then told the court that while she was sitting silently in the sitting room with one of Noel’s friends waiting for him to return from hospital, they heard voices shouting ‘We’re back Noel, Noel we’re back'.
Mrs McCarthy told Mr Edwards she recognised the voices as those of Mr O’Donovan and Mr Hourigan and was "frightened, very, very frightened" by them.
Mrs McCarthy will continue with her evidence before Justice Butler tomorrow.
