The trial of a 33-year-old man for the murder of Renars Tuleiko in Thurles will enter its closing stages tomorrow.
Kevin Keohane, of no fixed abode, denies the murder of Mr Tuleiko, who was found with over 43 knife wounds in April 2007.
His partner Victoria Moverly denies a charge of assault and of helping to conceal the body.
Kevin Keohane told the Central Criminal Court that he tried to hide the victim's body in a field because he was afraid that children playing would find it.
He said he burned everything belonging to the victim but claimed it was not to hide the fact that they had been there.
Mr Keohane also said gardaí had put words in his mouth and he made admissions because he wanted the interviews to be over.
He told the jury he may have told gardaí he inflicted a knife wound to the victim's neck 'to finish him off' but that was not his intention.
He told the court he did not mean to kill Mr Tuleiko.
'I tried to tell the gardaí over and over what had happened. They put words in my mouth. It got to the stage where I did not care what happened to me. I just wanted to get out of there. I was feeling down and I did not care.'
Self defence
Mr Keohane claims he was acting in self defence when he fought with Renars Tuleiko, a Latvian man who had befriended him.
Lawyers for the prosecution asked him to explain how Mr Tuleiko had 37 knife wounds to his face and neck while he, the accused, came away with only a bruise to his knuckle.
Patrick Marrinan SC put it to Mr Keohane that it defied logic that he should come away unscathed if he was acting in self defence. Mr Marrinan said he could not have been a threat to him as he was not injured and the victim had well over 40 knife wounds.
Mr Keohane said he did not know, but stressed he had told the truth in the witness box.
The prosecution claims Mr Tuleiko was heavily intoxicated and Mr Keohane was able to inflict the injuries to him because he was semi-conscious and unable to defend himself at the time.
The state also claims Mr Keohane slashed his face with so called 'traitor marks' and then inflicted a fatal wound to the neck.
However Mr Keohane said he was not semi-conscious and added 'nobody knows what it was like for me that night'.
