Woman 'heard accused threatening brother's eye'
A Waterford woman has told a murder trial that the deceased had threatened to "do in" the accused’s only eye minutes before he was stabbed to death on New Year’s Day 2003.
Deborah Kelly was giving evidence in the trial of Keith Doyle (aged 34), of Priory Lawn, Ballybeg, Waterford, who has pleaded not guilty to murdering his brother Gary Doyle (aged 28).
Mrs Kelly told the Central Criminal Court in the second day of the trial that she went to Keith Doyle’s house with him and her fiancé, after ringing in the New Year with them, the deceased and others in a local pub.
"Gary came up to the door and was shouting in at Keith. He (Gary) was aggressive, asking him to come out and he’d do his other eye in like he’d done one eye already," said Mrs Kelly.
The witness said the accused went out, followed by her fiancé. She followed him and joined Gary Doyle’s girlfriend, who was upset. The men were making their way across a green.
She said the accused then ran past her towards his house. "The next thing, his car swung up Ballybeg Drive," she recalled. The women crossed the green to where the car had stopped.
"It was swung in on the curve and the driver’s door was open. I sat into the car. I couldn’t see Keith. I couldn’t see Gary. I presume he was up past the car," she explained to the jury.
The witness told the court that she was trying to get the key out of the ignition, so the accused could not drive while drunk, when he returned. "He got into the car and tore off," she said.
Mrs Kelly said she and the deceased’s girlfriend then walked up to where Gary Doyle was lying on the footpath. "First, I thought he was unconscious. Then we noticed he was bleeding, a lot of blood, very heavy bleeding," she said.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury of seven women and five men.
