Gardaí tells murder accused him stabbing man to death in self defence does not make sense

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30-06-2025

Gardaí told a murder accused that his account of stabbing his aunt's partner to death in self defence did not make sense and put it to him that he had stabbed the deceased in the back, washed the knife and cleaned his hands, a jury has heard.
The defendant Ryan Kearney (39) told gardaí that he was "a lover not a fighter", the trial also heard on Monday.
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Mr Kearney, with an address at Loughnamona Drive, Leixlip, Co Kildare, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jeffrey Jackson (50) at The Lamps, School Street, Kilcock, Co Kildare on February 8th, 2024.
Mr Jackson's partner, Breda Kearney, has given evidence that when she returned home after a brief trip to the shop she was met by her bloodied nephew Ryan Kearney, who told her he had stabbed her partner in the neck and thought he was dead.
In his garda interviews, Mr Kearney said that he took a knife off his aunt's enraged partner after a scuffle and gave him "a few jabs with it", telling detectives that he had no intention to kill and was in fear for his life.
"It was either going to be me sitting here today or him sitting here today," the accused told officers.
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A state pathologist has given evidence to the jury that Mr Jackson was more than eight times over the legal drink driving limit and died after sustaining 16 separate knife injuries, one of which was 17cm in depth.
In his last interview on February 10th, 2024, gardaí asked Mr Kearney about telling the first garda who arrived at the scene that two men wearing balaclavas had come into his aunt's apartment and that one of them had begun to stab Mr Jackson.
The accused said he wasn't in his "right frame of mind" and didn't know what he was saying. "I was in shock...I have never seen any person actually die in my hands and I just didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do".
He continued: "I was scared and afraid and thought I was going to die that night myself".
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Mr Kearney said he had defended himself and stabbed Mr Jackson but "didn't murder him". "Jeff is my friend, like there was no intentions of murder".
The accused said as Mr Jackson came at him, he grabbed the knife and got it off him.
Mr Kearney said he had first stabbed the deceased "around the abdominal". "Why did you keep stabbing him?" pressed gardaí. "Because he kept attacking me," replied the accused.
"Why did you keep going, how long between first and second?" asked the gardaí, to which the accused said "milli seconds".
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Asked had he taken "a break" between the stabbings, the accused said he hadn't.
Gardaí put it to Mr Kearney that the deceased had 14 stab wounds, which they described as "a lot". The accused said he didn't remember.
Detectives also put it to Mr Kearney that he had stabbed the deceased in the back. "I don't remember," said the accused.
Officers told the accused that this was "not self-defence" and that he had stabbed Mr Jackson in the back. The accused told them to check "the drawer for fingerprints".
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"When he fell back on the couch you continued to stab him?" asked the gardai, to which the accused said he didn't remember.
Gardaí put it to the accused that he had then washed the knife and cleaned his hands. Asked why he had cleaned the knife, Mr Kearney replied "does that make a difference".
"Your story is not making sense, you stabbed him in the legs when he was standing?" said gardaí. "I couldn't do it when he was standing, I was in a daze," replied the accused.
Gardaí told the accused that he had gone to the sink to wash the knife. "There would still be blood on it if I washed it," said Mr Kearney.
Asked to explain "the one in the back", Mr Kearney said he didn't "want to live, it all happened so quickly. I don't know how it all happened. There in body not in mind....I was in fear. Maybe he would come back. Not going to tell porkies".
The accused told gardaí the incident had "just happened in seconds" and the "last thing I would be thinking about is stabbing somebody. I'm a lover not a fighter".
"I'm not risking doing a lengthy sentence for somebody like him," concluded the accused.
Under cross-examination, Detective Garda John Faherty agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that his client was a functional alcoholic, who had no previous convictions for violence or possession of implements or knives.
The detective also agreed that Mr Kearney had spoken about a history of difficulty between him and the deceased, including two incidents where Mr Jackson had broken his hand and an earlier incident where the deceased "broke a pint glass on" the accused's head.
Mr Bowman put it to the witness that it was beyond dispute that Mr Kearney had come up with what was referred to as "a cock and bull story" of people having come into the apartment that day. Det Gda Faherty said the accused accepted in his interviews that he had "come up with this story" and "had made it up".
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The witness agreed that the accused had used window spray or window cleaner to clean the knife and not bleach or detergent. The detective also agreed that the knife appeared to be washed or wet.
In his opening speech, Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, told the jury that evidence of the 16 separate knife injuries suffered by Mr Jackson during what the prosecution say was a "ferocious attack" in the apartment did not fit with Mr Kearney's account of having stabbed the deceased in self defence.
The prosecution has now completed its evidence in the trial.
The trial continues on Tuesday before Mr Justice Paul Burns and a jury of three men and nine women.