Court hears that murder was case of mistaken identity

A man who was beaten to death two years ago was the victim of a group of men looking for an entirely different person, the Central Criminal Court was told. Two men, Stephen Doyle and William Broderick, are on trial for the murder of John Murray of North Road in Finglas. Both have pleaded not guilty.

The first witness today in the Central Criminal Court was Stephen Doyle's ex-girlfriend Caroline O'Connor. She had a child with the accused, but they had broken up around three years before. In Court, Ms O'Connor claimed that Stephen Doyle and three others whom she had never seen before, came into her home in Mulhuddart in Dublin, in the early hours of January 15 1998. She said that Mr Doyle was making accusations that her more recent ex-boyfriend had been molesting their child. She claimed that she knew nothing about it. Another man, John Murray, was staying at the house at the time, but he was simply a friend of one of Ms O'Connor's friends who was in the house that night.

After coming in the door, Ms O'Connor said that the three men and Stephen Doyle went around the house, looking through the rooms. In the following half hour Caroline O'Connor claims that the three men and Stephen Doyle went upstairs. On the way out, she claims that one of the men said to her: "you better call an ambulance, he's in a real bad way". When she went upstairs she found Mr Murray lying in a pool of blood. Statements from Fire Officers who were at the scene that night also say that there were footprints in the blood.

The case continues tomorrow.