A 43-year-old man has been found guilty of murder after he stabbed his friend to death in a bar in Co Limerick two years ago during a row over a drug payment.
Mark Crawford, from Quarry Road, Thomondgate, Co Limerick, had pleaded not guilty claiming he had acted in self defence.
He was convicted by a unanimous verdict at the Central Criminal Court this afternoon and faces the mandatory term of life in prison.
He and Patrick 'Pa' O’Connor were taking cocaine in Fitzgerald's Bar on Sexton Street in Limerick on 7 July 2018 when a row broke out between them over payment.
The court heard that Mr O’Connor became aggrieved because he felt he was "after getting burnt for €100 for cocaine".
"He said I owed him a oner. I said I didn't have it. Before I knew it I had stabbed him," Crawford explained.
Mr O'Connor was stabbed six times in the heart, neck and arm and died at the scene.
Mark Crawford claimed he acted in self defence because he was afraid Mr O' Connor was going to attack him, but this was rejected by the jury this afternoon.
After deliberating for four hours and 35 minutes over the last two days, the jury unanimously found him guilty of murder.
It was the defence case that if they were in doubt in relation to the accused's intention on the night, or if he had mistakenly believed he was under threat and had used too much force, then the jury must find him not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
Instead the jury accepted the State's case that the defendant had intended to cause at least serious injury to Mr O'Connor when he stabbed him.
Crawford did not react to the verdict and was remanded in custody for sentencing next month.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster testified that she conducted a post mortem on Mr O'Connor and found six stab wounds on his body, including those to his heart, jugular vein, neck and arm.
The expert witness said the deceased's cause of death was haemorrhage or bleeding shock due to stab wounds to the thorax and neck.
Barman Cyril O'Connor gave evidence in the trial that he saw Crawford "strike" the deceased in the neck, but it was not until after the defendant left the pub that he saw the "horror" done.
He also told the jury that blood was "flowing away" from the deceased man as he lay on his side in the Limerick bar.
Following today's verdict, Ms Justice Tara Burns thanked the jury for the attention and diligence they had given to the case.
"It is obviously a very difficult time for the country in terms of the Covid problem and I'm very grateful for you coming in each day and giving us your service," she said.
Ms Justice Burns will hand down the mandatory sentence of life imprisonment on 2 October and remanded Crawford in custody until that date.
She adjourned sentencing after counsel for the prosecution, John Fitzgerald SC, asked for time for reports to be submitted to the court.
She said she wanted to commend both families for their conduct during the trial.
The O'Connor family obviously had to listen to very difficult evidence and conducted themselves in a very up-standing manner, she said, and she expressed her sympathy to them in relation to the loss they had suffered.
