Victim's girlfriend gives evidence to Tallaght murder trial
A Dublin man kissed his baby son on the head minutes before he was stabbed to death in a Tallaght street brawl, a murder trial at the Central Criminal Court heard today.
Mark Warner (aged 22) of Donomore Avenue, Tallaght, Dublin, denies murdering Jamie Keogh
(aged 17) of Millbrook Lawns, Tallaght, on July 30, 2004.
Giving evidence was Louise Cunningham, the girlfriend of the deceased, who was pregnant with his second child at the time of his death.
Ms Cunningham told the court that her younger sister had celebrated her fifth birthday with a party on July 29.
The party ended at around 6pm, after which the family sat together in the living room with drinks. Mr Keogh arrived and a row erupted between him and Ms Cunningham.
“The two of us were roaring at each other and he smacked me across the face,” she told the court.
Ms Cunningham’s father was in bed at the time, but came down to investigate the noise. Mr Keogh began fighting with him too, and Ms Cunningham described hearing a “loud bang like a punch”.
After hiding in the kitchen she went out to the garden, where her father had collapsed. “He was lying on the ground and he was shaking. There was blood coming down his face,” Ms Cunningham said.
The accused and the accused’s brother, Kevin Warner, then approached the scene and began fighting with Mr Keogh.
When gardaí arrived the crowd dispersed and Ms Cunningham described seeing a “red stain” on her boyfriend’s back.
Later in the evening Mr Keogh called at the Cunningham household to speak to his girlfriend. “I opened the door and he came in. He asked me for a light and gave little Jamie a kiss on the head and went out,” Ms Cunningham said as she wept openly in the witness box.
The court also heard evidence from Christopher Cunningham, the brother of Louise Cunningham, who was inside the Warner household when Mr Keogh returned later and stood outside shouting and asking for a “straightener”.
At first the accused declined, and his brother, Kevin Warner, went outside to settle matters with Mr Keogh.
Mr Cunningham Jr was watching when the accused allegedly raced into the middle of the tussle and sank a knife into Mr Keogh.
“He was standing in the garden looking out with a knife in his hands. Someone threw a bottle in, which smashed, and Mark ran out to the two of them and stabbed Jamie in the side,” he said.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Henry Abbott and the jury of six men and six women.
