Stab victim stopped breathing within seconds of paramedics' arrival, court hears
A multiple stab victim stopped breathing within seconds of emergency services arriving at the scene, a Dublin murder trial has heard.
Teenager David Byrne was stabbed to death after being chased into a dead end at a city apartment complex on the night of March 19, 2011.
Marcus Kirwan (aged 19), of Cooley Road, Drimnagh has pleaded not guilty to murdering 19-year-old Mr Byrne, who had lived at Davitt House, also in Drimnagh.
His trial at the Central Criminal Court today heard from a number of paramedics, who treated Mr Byrne, after he received nine stab wounds at Emmet Court in Inchicore.
Thomas Williams of Dolphin’s Barn Fire Station testified that he found a man lying in the car-park when he arrived at the complex that night.
He said he cut off Mr Byrne’s clothes and discovered multiple stab wounds. He commenced CPR as the victim had stopped breathing.
Mr Williams explained that when he arrived he had checked for vital signs and that the teenager was breathing and had a pulse. However, the victim stopped breathing within 20 to 30 seconds, he recalled.
He said that CPR continued in the ambulance on the way to St James’s Hospital, where Mr Byrne died.
The court also heard from Teemu Latila, a resident of the complex, who said he heard screaming outside his house that night.
He said the male voice was repeating something, but he couldn’t make out what it was.
“I went to the window and saw three hooded guys running away towards the gates,” he said, describing them as young, aged about 20. “They were running in a line. The last one had something in his hand.”
He said this 25-cm long, pointed object was ‘knife-like’.
He said he ran downstairs and outside and saw a man lying on the ground.
“He kept saying: ‘I cannot breathe’,” recalled Mr Latila.
He said that as he returned to his house after the ambulance had left, he noticed blood on a wall and something like a hat on the ground. He said he pointed these out to gardaí.
Earlier, the trial heard from another resident, Thomas Quinn, who said he saw the deceased being chased into a dead end before the man chasing him gave him what he thought was a ‘digging’. It was dark and he didn’t see a knife, he explained.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan and a jury of seven men and five women.
