Murder accused claims victim produced gun
A man accused of murdering a taxi driver last year by stabbing him more than 40 times in a frenzied attack told gardaí that the deceased had pulled out a gun before he stabbed him in the neck in a row over drug money.
Carlos Byrne (aged 23) and Lindsey Fahy (aged 26), of Linnetsfield Square, Clonee, Co
Meath, have pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering 31-year-old Mark Smyth at Fortlawn Avenue, Blanchardstown on March 18, 2008.
On day nine of the trial prosecuting counsel, Garnet Orange BL, read out memos of garda interviews with the accused. A video recording of one interview was also played in court.
Mr Byrne told gardaí that he owed the deceased money for drugs and Mr Smyth demanded it from him on the day he died. Mr Byrne said Mr Smyth told him: “You don’t want to be f***ing messing with me, I f***ing mean it”.
Mr Byrne said: “I had to kill him, he was going to kill me. I owed him money, you know yourself. Once I stabbed him once, I had to kill him”.
Detective Garda Patrick Traynor told the jury that that remark was made at the time of Mr Byrne’s arrest at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Santry. Mr Byrne refused to sign a note of it and later denied using those words.
The accused said that he had been at the airport with a friend when Mr Smyth rang him to say that he was waiting outside his house in Clonee. He said Mr Smyth told him to hurry up and said: “You wouldn’t want to be f***ing me around, I’ll cut your throat”.
He said he got home to find Mr Smyth parked outside his house with his girlfriend in the passenger seat. He said Ms Fahy was in the house with two children and Mr Smyth threatened to kick down the door.
Mr Byrne said he was afraid, saying: “He was aggressive and I knew he was going to do something”.
He said he took a knife and asked Ms Fahy to go with him. He said he had the knife in the band of his trousers and got into the back seat of Mr Smyth’s taxi.
They drove to the Fortlawn Estate as Mr Byrne had told Mr Smyth he had money there. When they arrived Mr Byrne said Mr Smyth said: “You get out and get the money or Ill f***ing shoot you”.
Mr Byrne said the deceased then started “going mad” and pulled out a gun. Mr Byrne told gardaí that he owed €28,000 and that Mr Smyth expected six or seven thousand.
He said he took out the knife and started “cutting” Mr Smyth. He said Ms Fahy was screaming and attacking Mr Smyth. Mr Byrne said they got out of the car and he continued to swing the knife at Mr Smyth.
“I was doing anything to get him away from me,” he said.
He said: “I knew if he got the knife I was dead” and “I was terrified, I was using the knife everywhere and anywhere”.
He told gardaí he had taken heroin and crack cocaine that day.
He said: “I’m very sorry for what happened to Mark, he looked after me and I did him a lot of favours, he wasn’t the same person that day. It was all pressure, pressure, pressure”.
He added that he was sorry for the deceased’s girlfriend and children and said: “it didn’t have to end like this”.
When asked by gardaí why he did not run from Mr Smyth he said the deceased was coming after him and trying to get the knife. He said he walked away from Mr Smyth when he could see he was no longer a threat.
He said Ms Fahy’s cousin gave them a lift back to the children who had been left at their home in Clonee. That cousin then took the children to their grandparents and the two accused went to a friend’s house in Drogheda.
Mr Byrne said Mr Smyth had not assaulted him before that day “but seemed to be a maniac” that evening. He denied a suggestion by gardaí that there was no gun and that he had been in no danger.
Det Gda Traynor agreed with Patrick Marrinan SC, defending, that Mr Byrne was a drug addict and was prescribed methadone at Blanchardstown garda station before interview to diminish the effects of withdrawal.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury of six men and six women.
