Man stabbed to death following row, court hears
A 40-year-old man who "couldn’t accept" the break-up of his homosexual relationship was stabbed to death by his partner following a row, a murder trial jury at the Central Criminal Court heard today.
Mr Michael Waters died in the early hours of April 4, 1999 at a flat in Phibsboro Rd, Dublin where he had been living with the accused man, Mr Anthony McIntyre.
Mr McIntyre, 47, a native of Ballycry, Co Mayo denies murdering his former partner.
Prosecution counsel, Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley today told the court that the fatal incident occurred following a row in which the accused man told gardai he stabbed Mr Waters "in a fit of temper".
The court heard that in an initial statement to gardai following the killing, Mr McIntyre claimed that his partner "went for him" with a knife, after which he took the knife from him and made the fatal blow.
Upon his re-arrest in July 1999, Mr McIntyre changed his statement "substantially" and said that the deceased man threw a clock at him during a physical argument in the bedroom of their flat.
Following this, Mr McIntyre took a knife from a wooden block in the kitchen and stabbed Mr Waters in the chest.
From the bedroom window, Mr McIntyre called to two pedestrians on the street outside to alert the gardai and to call an ambulance, which they did.
A doctor pronounced Mr Waters dead at the scene at 5.30am.
Mr Vaughan Buckley SC said that Mr McIntyre was "sorry for what happened" to Mr Waters and had told gardai in his second statement that he was sorry that he "ever clapped eyes on" Mr Waters.
"He couldn’t accept that I wanted to split from him and was afraid others would be told about the relationship," he said.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Kearns.
