Man was covered in blood, taxi driver tells murder trial
A taxi driver was given a tip by two men, one of whom was "covered in blood", and told "you didn't see us tonight", the trial of two Dublin men accused of murdering a man heard at the Central Criminal Court today.
Alan Keogh, aged 32, of Wellmount Green, Finglas and Gary McNevin, aged 31, of no fixed abode but with an address at Glenhill Road, Finglas, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Peter Mitchell, aged 32, of Monasterboice Road, Crumlin, at Monasterboice Road between and inclusive of October 17 and October 20, 2003.
Taxi driver Keith Dowdall picked up a fare in the early hours of October 17 around Monasterboice Road in Crumlin. He told the court he was on his way home but pulled over because he saw a man with a crutch standing at the side of a road. "I said I'd do one more," he said.
Mr Dowdall did not see the other two people, "a fella and a girl", at first. The two men and the woman got into the taxi and asked to be taken to South Circular Road.
He said the man with the crutch and the girl got in the backseat and the other man sat in the passenger side of the front. This man was holding his arm as if he was injured, Mr Dowdall said.
"I looked down and saw that his trainers and legs were covered in blood," Mr Dowdall said.
"I didn't know what happened, but I didn't want blood all over the floor of the car. So I asked him to lift his feet so I could put newspaper on the floor," he said.
Mr Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, asked: "How did he react to you seeing the blood?"
"He was pretty nervous, it seemed he didn't know he was covered in blood," Mr Dowdall replied.
The taxi driver added that he had no interest in speaking to the man either. "I didn't like them, I didn't trust them," he said.
He described the woman as "very lovey-dovey" with the man with the crutch. Mr Dowdall said they had a brief conversation about picking up a child from school the next morning as the woman got out of the car a few minutes later on South Circular Road.
The driver said he expected the men to get out too, but the man in the back asked the driver to go on to Swords. "I wasn't happy about that at all," he said.
On the way to Swords, he said the man in the back, who was giving him directions, fell asleep. "The other man hadn't a clue," Mr Dowdall said.
"Did you have concern that they would have the money to pay you?" Mr Grehan asked. "Yes," he replied. The driver pulled over at a Spar in Swords and was then handed a €50 note. The men agreed with the driver that the meter would continue running until they reached the destination.
"Did any of them say anything to you as they were getting out?" Mr Grehan asked.
"Yes, he threw a fiver on the seat and said 'you didn't see us tonight'," Mr Dowdall said.
The taxi driver said he did not clean his car out as usual at the end of the shift because "I had a feeling something had gone down".
Under cross-examination by Ms Isobel Kennedy SC, for Keogh, Mr Dowdall told the court he thought the man sitting in the front seat "had been attacked by a dog".
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Michael Peart.
