Witnesses deny planning 'ambush'
A number of young men who saw one of their friends struck down in a fatal stabbing today denied they planned to ambush the 21 year-old Co Tipperary man who was allegedly responsible for the attack.
At the Central Criminal Court, brothers Kenneth and David Wall denied defence counsel suggestions that Charlie Maher was the victim of an assault by a group of his friends outside a takeaway, who then followed him home and jumped over a wall to ambush him.
"Charlie had every good reason to believe you were all going to jump on him," Mr John O’Kelly SC for the defence suggested to Kenneth Wall.
"No, that’s incorrect," replied Mr Wall.
He was giving evidence on the second day of the trial of Charles Maher, originally from Clonmel, Co Tipperary and with an address at Grange Cohan, St John’s Park, Waterford.
Mr Maher has pleaded not guilty to the murder of one of his friends, John Paul Ryan, aged 20, at Grange Cohan Park, Waterford on March 11, 2002.
Yesterday the court heard that "all war broke loose" outside a chipper in the city when Mr Ryan allegedly took a sausage out of Mr Maher’s bag of chips.
Shortly afterwards, Mr Ryan returned to the Grange Cohan estate with the rest of the group including the Wall brothers, to confront Mr Maher but he was stabbed twice and died shortly afterwards.
Kenneth Wall disputed the evidence of an independent witness to the row outside the chipper who told gardaí that he saw one man lying on the ground and three lads kicking him.
"That’s incorrect…I took no sides, I was holding John Paul back," he said.
"Maybe it could have looked like that when we were trying to pull them apart," he added. His brother David also denied striking Mr Maher in the row outside the takeaway.
“I didn’t touch him,” he said.
Both men said they believed Mr Ryan intended to make up with Mr Maher when they got back to the Grange Cohan estate.
David Wall denied that the deceased threatened Mr Maher as he stood across the roadway from him.
“I can’t recall that,” he said. Both men gave evidence of hearing someone say, “it’s only over a battered sausage” but could not properly identify who had said it.
Eoin Power, another friend who witnessed the incident gave evidence that John Paul Ryan approached Mr Maher and said, “this is stupid, we’re fighting over a battered sausage”.
“There was a response, but it wasn’t words -- Charlie Maher punched John Paul in the jaw,” he said.
He said a fight broke out between the pair who were rolling around on the ground punching each other.
The court heard that Kenneth Wall dragged Mr Maher away from Mr Ryan when someone shouted ‘he’s got a knife’.
“Charlie stood back up and he shouted to John Paul, ‘I told you I’d stab you, but you wouldn’t listen,’” Mr Power said.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns and a jury.
