Murder accused had no motive, claims witness
A close friend of a woman on trial for murdering a 66-year-old man has told the Central Criminal Court that the accused had “no motive” and “wouldn't have done it on purpose”.
Giving evidence via video-link from Australia, Maria Cunningham-Dutton said that the accused, Claire Nolan, was “off her head on cocaine” at the time of the incident, in which Michael Duffy died.
Describing herself as a “very good friend” of the accused, the witness said Ms Nolan was “in such a rage” on the night in question because the deceased's son had tried to break into her new car.
Ms Nolan (aged 23), of Sheephill Green in Blanchardstown has denied murdering Mr Duffy in the driveway of his son's home at Well View Grove in Blanchardstown on January 26, 2008.
She has admitted to the taxi-driver's manslaughter, but the prosecution has refused to accept the plea and is arguing that Ms Nolan murdered Mr Duffy by driving her car at speed towards him and crushing him to death.
“She didn't mean to do it I know she didn't. Anyone can see there's no motive for this...she wouldn't have done it on purpose...there was just too much drink and drugs,” Ms Cunningham-Dutton told the jury.
“I'm not making any excuses because what happened shouldn't have happened,” she said.
The 22-year-old witness described how she had spent Friday, January 25, with Claire Nolan, driving her new Nissan Micra car, and taking cocaine and sleeping tablets.
They went back to her mother's house at Well View Grove in Blanchardstown, where they were joined by Ms Cunningham-Dutton's boyfriend at the time, and another friend.
They spent the evening drinking wine and eating pizza before the witness said she opened her front door and saw her next-door neighbour and son of the deceased, Francis Duffy, trying to break into Ms Nolan's car which was parked in the drive.
“It wouldn't be unusual behaviour out of Fran Duffy...we've always had a lot of trouble from him as a neighbour,” she told the jury.
Francis Duffy, who was 40 at the time of the incident, was described by another witness to the court as “a bit of a fruitcake” and “not the full shilling.”
Ms Cunningham-Dutton said everyone ran into the garden, shouting at Mr Duffy and demanding to know why he had tried to break into the car.
She said she saw Fran hit Ms Nolan.
Yesterday, the court also heard that the accused was seen hitting Fran over the head with a baseball bat.
Ms Cunningham-Dutton said the whole incident was “like a blur” to her because of the wine and cocaine she'd taken, but breaking down, she told the court how she remembered standing in a neighbour's garden and seeing the accused's car driving at speed into Fran's driveway.
“Fran must have rang his dad and his dad came up because of all the fighting...I didn't even know he was there until I saw his dead body on the ground,” she said.
“I actually didn't see Michael Duffy dying because of Claire squashing him against the wall...everything happened so fast...I ran over to the garden and he was lying on the ground so I just assumed,” she said.
Another witness told the trial how she saw a Nissan Micra driving straight into Mr Duffy's house and heard it crashing through the gates.
The deceased's son, Michael Duffy Junior, also took the witness stand and told the jury that his father had spent the day visiting friends in Cavan and dropping people around the place.
He said he visited the scene on the day following his father's death, and noticed that the gates of his brother's house were badly damaged and “twisted and warped”.
The trial resumes in the morning before the jury of six men and six women.
