A teenage boy was holding a knife during an argument outside a house party in Cork city where student Cameron Blair was murdered, a witness has told the Central Criminal Court.
Dave Sheehan, who described himself as one of Mr Blair’s best friends, told the accused’s barrister that he had seen the knife after it was suggested to him he had “added on another layer” to his recollection of the night.
The jury has heard that the events of this case related to “a tragic situation” where Mr Blair (20) died after being stabbed in the neck while attending a party. Another juvenile has already pleaded guilty to his murder.
The accused, now aged 16, has pleaded not guilty to producing a knife in connection with the murder of Mr Blair at a house on Bandon Road in Cork on January 16th, 2020.
Mr Sheehan told prosecuting counsel John Fitzgerald SC that he and Mr Blair went to the party at a friend’s house and at around 7.30pm.
He said they later opened the door following a knock on it and a drunk man aged in his 40s was seeking to come in. They told him he was not welcome and closed the door but the man made a number of further efforts to enter.
After one attempt, Mr Sheehan said an occupant of the house pushed the man and gave him a bit of a slap in the face before he stumbled and fell on the ground.
Lousy
He said three boys, who he had never met before, were standing on the footpath outside the house and said what had happened the man was “lousy”.
Mr Sheehan said he and Mr Blair then picked up the man and began talking to the boys, who ended up coming into the party.
He said he later went to a nearby shop to buy more drink with the boy who has since pleaded guilty to Mr Blair’s murder.
“I told him that he and his friends were going to have to leave as the people who owned the house had said that to me.”
When they arrived back, Mr Sheehan said the atmosphere had changed and the three boys were trying to get back inside and were arguing with his friends, who were standing in the doorway.
He said the boys were saying they did not have a problem with him or his friends and wanted to talk to “the Polish fella, who was trying to rip them off”.
He said the three boys were each holding a knife and standing on the edge of the footpath facing the front door.
Mr Sheehan said a girl came out and told the boys to leave and that one of them punched her. He said the three boys laughed at the time.
Mr Sheehan said he had not seen the boy who pleaded guilty to Mr Blair’s murder do anything to the deceased as he was staring at the girl who was punched.
Running away
He said he had only seen two of the boys running away from the scene. He said the 16-year-old accused was “staring in the doorway” and “looked shocked” before he ran off.
Mr Sheehan said it was only after the three left that he noticed Mr Blair in the doorway of the house. “He was holding his neck, he had been stabbed. I went into the house and took my phone out and called 911.”
At the beginning of his cross-examination, defence counsel Timothy O’Leary SC told Mr Sheehan that his client was 14 when the event happened and the witness said he was 21 at the time.
Mr Sheehan said he had drank no more than seven cans on the day and while he was not “100 per cent sober”, he would not have used the word “drunk” to describe himself.
Mr O’Leary put it to the witness that the incident which “kicked things off” was when the older man had tried to gain access to the party.
“Yes, we would never have talked to the three boys outside if it wasn’t for him,” he replied.
Mr O’Leary asked Mr Sheehan if there had been “an air of aggression” between those who blocked the doorway and the three boys outside.
“My friends were just telling them to leave and they were just persistent that they just wanted to get into the house to find [the Polish guy] so there was an argument yeah,” he said.
Asked how long the accused had the knife in his hand, Mr Sheehan said for “at least three or four minutes”.
Another layer
Mr O’Leary told Mr Sheehan that he understood that Mr Blair was one of his best friends and he knew that his client had not stabbed the deceased. However, he said he was suggesting that Mr Sheehan had “added on another layer” about the accused also having a knife.
Mr Sheehan replied: “If you are suggesting he did not have a knife that is not true because I saw it with my eyes.” He said the boy had the knife in his left hand and down by his side for most of the time and was “waving it around a little bit, arguing and trying to get into the house”.
The accused boy last week pleaded guilty to committing violent disorder with two other persons present together, using or threatening to use unlawful violence, and such conduct taken together would cause a person of reasonable firmness present at Bandon Road in Cork city to fear for his or another person’s safety.
The trial continues.