Alan Higgins 'suffered three heart attacks'
An accident and emergency surgeon has told a jury schoolboy Alan Higgins suffered three heart attacks before he died.
Dr Adrian Ireland said 17-year-old Alan Higgins "lost a huge volume of blood. He was unable to clot and there was blood oozing from every cut".
The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies murdering Mr Higgins of Carraroe Avenue in The Donaghies, Donaghmede, Dublin, on October 13, 200,2 outside a cinema on Dublin’s north side.
The accused also denies robbing the victim’s mobile phone and a sum of cash on October 12, 2002.
A tearful Dr Ireland told the jury that Mr Higgins "went into cardiac arrest in the ambulance" on his way to Beaumont Hospital.
The A&E surgeon said he was "attempting to remove a part of the lung of Alan Higgins when he had his third heart attack".
Dr Ireland and his team attempted to resuscitate Mr Higgins "in the operating theatre but these attempts failed". The 17-year-old schoolboy was pronounced dead at 3.10am on October 13, 2002, by Dr Ireland, the court heard.
Today Garda Enda Dwyer presented the heavily blood-stained clothes of Mr Higgins to the jury.
Gda Dwyer showed the jury the blood-stained white French Connection t-shirt Mr Higgins was wearing on the night he was stabbed outside the UCI complex in Coolock, Dublin.
Gda Dwyer told the jury of eight men and four women that he received the clothes Mr Higgins had been wearing when he was fatally stabbed in the early hours of October 13, 2002.
The white t-shirt the victim had been wearing had been "cut down the front and was heavily blood-stained", Gda Dwyer said.
Gda Dwyer also presented to the court the jacket Mr Higgins had been wearing. "It was cut down the side and blood marks were on the sleeve."
As Mr Higgins’ last clothes were shown to the jury a visibly upset Higgins family left the court.
At 3.10am on October 13, 2002, Gda Dwyer said he met with Mr Ireland, the surgeon who had been operating on Mr Higgins.
"He informed me that Alan Higgins has passed away and was pronounced dead," Gda Dwyer said.
At 7am, Gda Dwyer said, "the body was formally identified by Miriam Higgins".
Eighteen-year-old Ciaran Delaney from Swords told the jury that he was allegedly attacked by three youths on the night Mr Higgins was murdered.
As Mr Delaney and two of his friends were going towards Burger King in the UCI complex, three teenage boys allegedly robbed him of his school bag.
"They pulled it off me and ran away," he said. Mr Delaney said there were cans of Dutch Gold lager and a mini-disc player in his bag.
After his bag was stolen, Mr Delaney joined up with more of his friends and went looking for the three youths.
"An argument broke out. We asked for my bag back. They offered a fight for the bag," Mr Delaney said. He claims one of the youths hit his friend in the head and then there was "a bit of a brawl".
Mr Delaney got his bag back but without the cans of lager or the minidisc player. He claims that one of his attackers was "significantly smaller than the other two and that he was wearing a red Manchester United jersey".
Today, 18-year-old Adam McDermott told the jury he was also allegedly attacked by three youths on the night Mr Higgins lost his life.
Mr McDermott along with eight friends were in the vicinity of the UCI complex in Coolock on the night in question. Mr McDermott claims three boys approached him and threatened him with a knife.
"I asked my friend what time it was and two lads turned around," he said. "One boy was tall and wore a stripy top and the other was short with bushy eyebrows and a white Nike top," Mr McDermott said.
The shorter of the two, Mr McDermott claims "took out a knife and said: 'You would want to get out of here before I stick this in you'".
Mr McDermott claims he turned to walk away and the other guy smacked him with a white pole. "It broke when he hit me across the face and ear," Mr McDermott said.
Mr Gerard O’Rourke told the jury that the day after the stabbing he was out walking along the Malahide Rd and saw a knife on the ground. Mr O’Rourke rang 999 to report the discovery of a knife and gardaí later took possession of it.
"It was partly-serrated blade. It had a brown handle similar to what you would have at home," Mr O’Rourke said.
A knife was then presented to Mr O’Rourke in court to which he replied: "I think that would be it".
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Henry Abbott.
