Accused claims his life was in danger

"It was in my best interest to stop him," he told the jury.

Mr James (Seamus) Morgan of Lower Mount Pleasant Avenue, Rathmines, Dublin 6 denies the murder of Mr James Hand (aged 29) of Mountjoy Square, Dublin 7 on or between the 22 August and 5 September 2002 both dates inclusive at The Meeting Pint public house on Dorset Street Upper.

It is the prosecution’s case that the deceased was stabbed on 22 August 2002 and died two weeks later in hospital.

It is alleged that after the accused man told the bar-girl who was a niece of the deceased he was barred from The Meeting Pint pub, he was asked to leave by Ms Amanda Kavanagh.

However, the accused allegedly returned to the pub on at least three occasions in an agitated state. After Mr Hand "had words" with the accused an altercation allegedly broke out and Mr Hand was stabbed.

Mr Morgan told the court that he is the father of "two baby girls" and is separated from his partner. In 1999, the accused said he was in a motor bike accident and suffered very serious head injuries. Mr Morgan said he "doesn’t have a complete memory" of 22 August, 2002.

On that particular day, Mr Morgan said it was his eldest daughter’s fourth birthday but that he was not able to see her. "I would have loved to have seen her," he told the court.

The accused told the court that after he learnt that he would not see his daughter for her birthday he felt "empty" and "a little lost".

Earlier that day, Mr Morgan said he had an appointment with his psychiatrist at the Mater Hospital. Afterwards, the accused said he ended up in the Waxie Dargle on Dorset St.

"I used to drink minerals, I don’t know what possessed me to drink alcohol," he told the court. After staying in the public house for a few hours, Mr Morgan said he went to the Meeting Point pub also on Dorset St.

Mr Morgan said he remembered "drinking a drink and it being taken away from me". The court heard Mr Morgan say he remembered having a conversation with the deceased.

"Obviously, things got a bit heated and I ended up getting assaulted," Mr Morgan said.

The deceased man, he alleges was punching him in the head. "He kept punching me and punching me and punching me", Mr Morgan said.

"I realised I had a weapon in my hand," Mr Morgan told the jury.

"It was in my best interest to stop him."

"I realised my life was in danger, I had no option," Mr Morgan said. The accused said he did not intend to cause Mr Hand serious injury.

"I was afraid for my life I was going to go unconscious and be put into a coma," Mr Morgan said.

Under cross-examination by prosecuting counsel, Mr Morgan said he was carrying a knife on his person for "a day or maybe two days" before the incident in the pub.

Mr McCarthy SC, prosecution counsel, asked the accused did he tell his doctors that he was carrying a knife around with him. Mr Morgan said he did not.

The accused who suffered from paranoid ideas at the time of the incident said he "may not have taken" his medication that day.

The former partner of the accused man and mother of his two daughters, Ms Tanya Hanney (aged 26) told the court she had a four-year relationship with the accused.

Their relationship ended in 2001, Ms Hanney told the court after the accused was involved in a serious motor bike accident which left him with significant head injuries.

Life together as a family was "good before the accident" said Ms Hanney. But after his accident the accused became "very moody" and "started having epileptic seizures" and panic attacks.

On the day of the stabbing, Ms Hanney told the court it was her eldest daughter’s fourth birthday and the accused had rang her to take the two girls out for the day.

"I told him no, I had arrangements made myself,” Ms Hanney told defence counsel. “He was angry."

Consultant psychiatrist, Dr John Sheehan told the court the accused "has been a patient for a number of years" following a road traffic accident in July 1999 in which he sustained "severe head injuries".

"He suffered a fractured skull and a contusion to the brain which caused bleeding and hearmoraging to various parts of the brain," the psychiatrist said.

As a result of the accident, the court heard the accused suffered "severe difficulties" including seizures and convulsions like epileptic fits.

Dr Sheehan said the accused also suffered a "dramatic" personality change, "he went from being a man in a steady relationship and a full time job to a man unable to cope at home and minor day to day things".

The accused man also suffered from paranoid ideas, Dr Sheehan said and was prescribed anti-psychotic medication to "quieten down" that thinking.

The accused, Dr Sheehan said had "clear difficulties" with simple things like attention span and short term memory. The accused man also became depressed which was a reaction to the significant changes in his life after the accident, Dr Sheehan told the court.

Prior to the incident of August 22, 2002, Dr Sheehan said the accused man was "very attached" to his two children. After the relationship broke down with his partner, his access to his children was "extremely painful and difficult" for the accused man, Dr Sheehan said.

Under cross-examination by prosecuting counsel, Mr Patrick J McCarthy SC, the psychiatrist said the accused was on four different types of medication around the time of the fatal incident.

This medication, the court heard, included sleeping tablets, anti-depressant, anti-psychotic, anti-convulsant medication.

Mr Michael Dempsey, senior clinical psychologist told the court he conducted various neuro-psychological assessments on the accused after his motor bike accident in 1999.

This testing showed that the accused man was at the "lower end of low average ability" and was "below average".

The accused, Mr Dempsey said had the reading age of a 10 ½ year old and this level of intellect would have "difficulty thinking through the consequences of his actions".

The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Carney on Monday.