'I can look after myself' man told pub door staff before being beaten to death on Dublin street
When pub door staff pulled a 54-year-old father-of-three away from a scuffle with the man who would later beat him to death, he said: "Why did you do that? I can look after myself."
Anthony Walsh (31) has pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of 54-year-old Dermot Byrne on July 16, 2017 at North St, Swords, Co Dublin.
Mr Walsh pleaded guilty to stealing a bank card, keys and a Zippo lighter from Mr Byrne on the same date and location. He is on trial at the Central Criminal Court.
The jury today heard from witnesses who were drinking or working in Swords on the night Mr Byrne was found beaten to death.
Vincent McCarthy told prosecution counsel Vincent Heneghan SC that he was working security at the Harp Bar and Mr Byrne came over to where the door staff stand.
He said Mr Byrne would come over every week and talk to them. On this occasion he thanked one of the door staff for preventing him getting into his van on a previous night when he was drunk.
He was standing around for a while and got into an argument with the accused at about 2.11am. The accused had earlier been drinking in the Harp Bar.
"There was a bit of a scuffle between them," he said, so the door staff intervened.
Mr McCarthy brought Mr Byrne away from the scuffle and he sat down on a ledge by the entrance to the bar. As he sat there he asked:
Why did you do that? I can look after myself.
After about five minutes Mr Byrne walked away, in the same direction as the accused.
Another doorman, Krystzof Laszowski, told Remy Farrell SC for the defence that he saw the accused being followed by Mr Byrne who then grabbed Mr Walsh's hood.
He believed Mr Byrne was looking for a cigarette and agreed with Mr Farrell that he intervened to stop Mr Byrne "getting at" Mr Walsh.
Mr Laszowski told Mr Walsh: "Go home. Tomorrow you will forget all about this."
A few minutes the scuffle Darren Kelly said he saw an argument further down the street between two men while a woman looked on.
One of them, who he believed to be the aggressor, said something like "I'll kill you". The other man was trying to calm the situation.
There was a lot of shouting and threatening, he said. Mr Kelly wanted to call the gardai but his girlfriend asked him not to because she was intimidated and wanted to get away.
At around 2.40am Rory Robinson was walking with his friend by the nearby Fingal Community College when he heard a "long drawn out groan", like somebody getting sick.
It was pitch dark, Mr Robinson said, and he kept walking in conversation with his friend.
The trial continues tomorrow in front of Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of six men and six women.
