Schoolboy had admitted stabbing, court hears

The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Mr Higgins (aged 17) of Carraroe Avenue in The Donaghies, Donaghmede on 13 October 2002 outside UCI cinema, Coolock in Dublin’s north side.

The accused also denies robbing the victim’s mobile phone and a sum of cash on 12 October 2002.

Mr Whelan told the jury that his brother is Mr Anthony Whelan (aged 18) . The eighteen-year-old pleaded guilty along with Mr Michael Maher (aged 18) to the manslaughter of Alan Higgins last Tuesday at the Central Criminal Court.

Mr Whelan said the accused called into his house at around 10am on Sunday October 13, 2002. "I looked at the teletext and it came up that some fella had been stabbed in the UCI the night before," Mr Whelan said.

The accused, he claims, asked him had he heard about the stabbing, to which the defendant allegedly replied, "well that was us".

"I asked him and he said yeah, I stabbed him", Mr Whelan said.

Later that evening, Mr Whelan claims the accused, along with Mr Maher and his brother Anthony, allegedly talked about the stabbing again.

"They said where they were that night and what happened, that’s all I can remember", Mr Whelan said.

"They had what seemed to be Alan’s phone, it was a Nokia red phone. They put it in a shore". The phone was placed down a grid on a road.

Mr Whelan said he "couldn’t remember who put it in".

The State Pathologist told the jury that Alan Higgins died from "haemorraging and shock due to a stab wound to the chest"

Dr Marie Cassidy said the 17-year-old schoolboy "suffered considerable blood loss, so much had been lost that he developed a blood clot and blood was flowing from his wounds".

Alan Higgins, Dr Cassidy said, suffered three stab wounds to the chest with the most serious stab wound "penetrating the lung".

"The knife had gone inwards and upwards from back to front, penetrating his third and fourth ribs and then into his lung," Dr Cassidy said.

"The upper lobe of the right lung had been removed" by surgeons when they were trying to save Alan Higgins’ life, Dr Cassidy said.

The fatal wound which was found in the removed part of the lung was "3cm long and cut through the lung," the State Pathologist said.

Dr Cassidy was shown a steak knife in court saying "yes, that was the knife I was shown" in October 2002.

"Given the dimensions of the knife and the wounds to the body, a knife like this could have caused the stab wounds".

"A knife like this would require only moderate force to penetrate the body cavities," she said.

Dr Cassidy said Alan Higgins had suffered from a "severe form of leukaemia when he was four years of age".

In his medical notes from Temple Street Hospital, Dr Cassidy said Alan Higgins was in "complete remission" in 1989.

She said the schoolboy had completely recovered from the illness and that "he was not suffering from leukaemia when he was fatally stabbed".

The schoolboy, Dr Cassidy said, also suffered "blunt force trauma to the head and arms".

"The wounds to his face suggest Alan Higgins received a few punches to the face," the State Pathologist said.

The position of the fatal wound was in an "area normally protected" by the arm.

"This suggests he had his arm raised in self defence when he was attacked," Dr Cassidy said.

The 17-year old victim had "received multiple blood transfusions," Dr Cassidy said.

Dr Cassidy showed the jury the blood stained t-shirt that Alan Higgins had been wearing on the night he was fatally stabbed.

She pointed to the right arm pit area where "three slits in the t-shirt corresponded with the three stab wounds he suffered," Dr Cassidy said.