A man accused of murdering his former partner’s new boyfriend called her a “whore” moments before the fatal confrontation, the Central Criminal Court was told on Wednesday.
The jury also heard two interviews with accused man Nassar Ahmed in which he told detectives that the deceased man had tried to "pick a fight" with him and show "that he was the boss". Mr Ahmed said that he had "grabbed something sharp" to defend himself.
Mr Ahmed (41), of The Mews, Kilrush Road, Ennis, Co Clare has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Eoin Boylan (32) at Gordon Drive, Cloughleigh, Ennis, on April 14th, 2020.
Mr Ahmed offered to plead guilty to manslaughter in advance of the trial but the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) has refused to accept the plea.
At Mr Ahmed’s trial for Mr Boylan’s murder, the deceased's mother, Catherine Martin, told prosecution counsel Lorcan Staines SC that Mr Ahmed did not look "very happy" when he arrived outside the house on the day of the alleged offence.
“Although he didn't show it, I think he was angry,” Mrs Martin said.
Insults
Mrs Martin said he then started to call his former partner names as the pair argued outside. “He called her a whore,” she said.
The witness then described how her son was in the “was in the kitchen at the time and came out the front door when he heard Nassar shouting”.
“I came out behind him,” she told Mr Staines.
She said her son said he was going out to ask Mr Ahmed to stop shouting, and to ask him if he wanted to come inside.
The witness then told Mr Staines that she watched as Mr Ahmed walked back and forth at the front of the house after her son had gone outside before he “stood on his tippy-toes and moved very quickly, then stood on one leg and lunged towards my son”.
“I let out a roar for him [Mr Ahmed] to stop,” Mrs Martin said. “I put my arm under him to support him [Mr Boylan], to bring him back to the house. Susan [O’Doherty, Mr Ahmed’s former partner] was on the other side, and roaring at Nassar, saying ‘what have you done?’.”
Under cross-examination from defence counsel, Michael Bowman SC, Mrs Martin was asked if she was certain she had heard the accused call his former partner a “whore”?
Mrs Martin replied she was “100 per cent sure”.
“I did hear it because his voice was raised,” she said.
Martial arts
Mr Bowman then asked the witness if she could recall her son saying during the row “if Susan wasn’t going to do something, he was going to go out”?
“I put my hand on the bible when I say to you, I don’t actually recall those words,” Mrs Martin told Mr Bowman.
She also agreed with the defence counsel that her son had an interest in martial arts.
And when asked if Ms O’Doherty was present when Mr Boylan was initially “struck or injured”, she replied “no”.
Paramedic Jessica Parsons later told Mr Staines that she treated Mr Boylan for stab wounds at the scene.
She said he went into cardiac arrest inside the ambulance, which was parked outside the house at the time, and was pronounced dead a short time later.
Garda station
On Wednesday afternoon, Garda Joseph Kearney testified that the accused man presented himself at Ennis Garda Station on April 14th and informed him that he had an argument or disagreement with another male. Mr Ahmed told the officer that he had picked up some form of an object and hit the man a number of times. Gda Kearney said he performed a body search on Mr Ahmed in which nothing was found and then arrested the accused on suspicion of assault causing harm to Mr Boylan.
In his first interview at 9.20pm on April 14th, Mr Ahmed told gardaí that he understood the reason for his arrest saying: "I came myself you know cause I was fighting".
The accused said he came to Ireland in 2005, got married to Susan O'Doherty a year later and they had three boys. They lived in a council house in Ennis for five years before separating in 2017. Mr Ahmed moved out of the house and initially lived with friends before getting his "own place" in Kilrush.
Mr Ahmed told officers that he called to Ms O'Doherty's house on April 14th but stayed at the side of the house and never went inside. "After a while her new boyfriend came out and said 'I hear you are looking for me' but I said I was not looking for him," he said.
"I told him I had no problem with you and last time I shook his hand. I told him I'm looking for Susan. He calling me names [sic]," he continued.
Mr Ahmed told gardaí that Mr Boylan's mother came outside and started talking to him. "She trying to cool things down as he roaring [sic]," he said.
"I apologised to his mam that I'd no problem with her son; he is trying to pick a fight. I looked him straight in the face and say 'I've no problem with you'. He called me a piece of s**t and scumbag," continued Mr Ahmed.
Mr Ahmed said that Mr Boylan did not like him and that he got "very mad" when he apologised to his mother.
The accused said that Susan was telling Mr Boylan not to fight him.
The accused said that Mr Boylan had come outside to him as he was angry and that he went straight up to him at the side wall of the house. "The first time he came up to me about a metre, he was trying to pick a fight," he said.
Mr Ahmed said the second time Mr Boylan came out he [Mr Boylan] tried to hit him. "I push him away, I pick up something," he added.
When asked to explain the second time Mr Boylan came out of the house, the accused said: "He came out very fast to start a fight, he tried to hit me. I had to defend myself. Before he hit me I push him. He still keep coming, I grabbed something, I hit him, I hit him again until he went back to Susan".
When asked what he [the accused] picked up, Mr Ahmed said: "I don't know, something sharp".
In his second interview on April 15th, Mr Ahmed was asked by gardaí how aware he was that he had injured Mr Boylan. "I don't see no blood, if I see blood I would be worried," he replied.
Gardaí put it to him that they believed the accused knew what he had in his hand when he "punched" the deceased. "All I know is I grabbed something, I defend myself in situation [sic]," he replied.
Detectives put it to him that it was not believable that he did not know what he had picked up and that no witnesses had seen him with a rock. "I don't know what to say," he replied.
The accused said he did not bring "it" away with him and had dropped it there after the fight.
Gardai finally put it to the accused at the end of his second interview that Mr Boylan was dead, but there was not a mark on him [the accused]. "I don't know, I'm sorry," he said.
In his opening speech Lorcan Staines SC, prosecuting, told the jurors that the issue of self-defence would have to be considered in the trial.
The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of seven men and five women.
