Nigerian boy died from single stab wound, court hears

A 15-year-old Nigerian boy died from 13 centimetre deep single stab wound through the heart on Good Friday two years ago, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard today.

Nigerian boy died from single stab wound, court hears

A 15-year-old Nigerian boy died from 13 centimetre deep single stab wound through the heart on Good Friday two years ago, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard today.

State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy told prosecuting counsel Mr Brendan Grehan, SC in the trial of a man accused of murdering Toyosi Shittabey on Good Friday two years ago, that the only significant injury to Toyosi when she carried out a post-mortem was a “heart-shaped single stab wound to the left upper chest measuring 3.6cm by 2cm and 13cm in depth”.

It was day four of the trial of Michael Barry (aged 26) of Pigeon House Road, Ringsend in Dublin 4 who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Toyosi Shittabey (aged 15) on April 2, 2010 at The Boulevard, Mount Eustace in Tyrrelstown, Dublin 15.

Mr Barry has also pleaded not guilty of producing a baseball bat in the course of a dispute.

It is the prosecution's case that Michael's brother Paul, who is now deceased, inflicted the stab wound on Toyosi but that Michael was an accessory to the murder.

Dr Cassidy said the wound was 13cm in depth and the blade of the knife went through the upper part of the heart slicing through the pulmonary artery and the aortic valve.

She said the stabbing was of “mild to moderate force” and because of the shape of the wound she could say that the knife was held in a downward angle with the person's hand holding the knife in an arch-like direction rather than thrusting the knife downwards into the body.

She said there were attempts to resuscitate Toyosi but that he did not recover, despite these attempts.

She noted bruising to Toyosi's knuckles on his right hand which she said could be related to defensive or offensive injuries.

She said Toyosi had lost a considerable amount of blood rapidly and that he was pronounced dead at James Connolly Memorial Hospital at 9.04pm.

Earlier the trial heard from an off-duty nurse who drove along The Boulevard in Tyrrellstown when she came across two gardaí giving CPR to a youth lying on the road.

Sylvia Snowe told prosecuting counsel she noticed a lot of commotion and shouting near the roundabout and in the corner of her eye she saw a youth lying on the road which caught her attention.

She said she stopped her car and offered assistance and took over CPR from the gardaí. She said the teenager was not breathing and had no pulse.

She said she continued CPR until the paramedics arrived and at no time during CPR was there any sign of life.

“There was blood on his face and a lot of blood on the ground. My knees were bloody afterwards,” she said.

The trial also heard from two witnesses who gave evidence that they heard racist shouts and screaming on the night of the incident.

The first witness told the court of hearing voices and loud noises and of seeing a group of youths, who were mostly black and two males in their late 20s and 30s.

This witness also told counsel one of the black youths tried to break a branch from a tree but it wouldn't break.

The witness said, “I also heard someone with a prominent Dublin accent shouting: 'Ye f**king n***ers,”.

A second witness told counsel of hearing one of the older white men shouting “Come on you n***ers,” when a woman approached the two older men and handed one of them a baseball bat.

This witness said at one stage the smaller of the two men was on the ground being kicked by the black teenagers.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of seven men and five women.

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