Accused told gardaí he stabbed brother in neck, court told
A murder trial at the Central Criminal Court has heard that hours after his younger brother died from stab wounds, the accused told gardaí: "I stabbed him in the neck with something and went home".
Detective Sergeant David Walsh was giving evidence today during the trial of 34-year-old Waterford man Keith Doyle about garda interviews with the accused.
Mr Doyle of Priory Lawn in Ballybeg, Waterford, has pleaded not guilty to the murder in Ballybeg of father-of-one Gary Doyle (aged 28) on January 1, 2003.
Detective Walsh told the court that before he arrested Mr Doyle at his home on New Year’s Day 2003, the accused told him he had gone drinking at 6pm the previous evening, and that his brother had banged on his door before he stabbed him.
The detective also testified that the accused told him he had lost his eye four years earlier, when the deceased stabbed him in the face with the glass. "He was going on to me about it," he told gardaí.
After his arrest, Mr Doyle told detectives he had too much to drink the night before. "At one stage I had a pint filled with vodka," he said. "We walked home and we were slagging. He was calling me a one-eyed bastard, that this fella and that fella was riding my girlfriend," said Mr Doyle.
During his first interview in custody, Mr Doyle said that after he arrived home, he was having a drink with a couple of friends when his brother banged on the door. "I told him to go away. He wouldn’t," recalled the accused.
"We were fighting. He attacked. I got a few kicks off him. I was on the ground at one stage. I can’t remember seeing his face," he explained. "He came up and abused me. Something just clicked," added Mr Doyle.
"I took the baseball bat out on the road. I swung it at him. I don’t think it hit him. It swung on the road," recalled the accused.
When asked if he knew his brother had three stab wounds, he replied: "No, Jesus".
"It could have been something on the ground, a bit of wood or something," he suggested. "I don’t remember stabbing him. I did not kill my brother," he insisted.
After the fight, Mr Doyle said he returned to his house, thinking it was one of their usual fights, and that his brother was walking up the drive. The accused claimed he did not know his brother had been taken away in an ambulance until his mother called from the hospital.
"Gary and myself were always arguing," he told detectives. When asked if these fights were as a result of his brother’s "glassing" him in the eye years earlier, he replied: "It boils down to that".
When asked, Mr Doyle said he would not call it revenge, but agreed he had got carried away. "I wouldn’t hurt my brother. I got into a fit of blind rage. It’s like a bad dream," he remarked.
Finally, he claimed "I was just f****d up" that morning when he told detectives he had stabbed his brother in the neck. "I can’t accept I’m responsible. I would not intentionally kill my brother. I don’t know how he died," concluded Mr Doyle.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury of seven women and five men.
