A man accused of the murder of a homeless man in Cork in 2019 told gardaí that the victim was his friend and that he had seen another man hitting and kicking the victim, a trial has heard.
James Brady, 28, of Shannon View, Mayfield, Cork, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 53-year-old Timmy Hourihane.
Mr Hourihane, a chef from west Cork who had been living on and off in a "tented village" in the Mardyke in Cork in 2019, was found with serious injuries in the early hours of 13 October that year and died in hospital a short time later.
In a voluntary interview given by James Brady to gardaí in October of 2019, played to the jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Waterford, the accused said he saw another man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, punch Timmy Hourihane and kick him on the head.
"That's all I was hearing. Timmy was screaming, all I could hear was 'ow, ow’. He [the other man] said ‘shut up’," he said in the interview.
He told gardaí that he got down over Timmy and looked at him. "His eyes were open, he was looking at me but he couldn’t talk, so I knew there was something seriously wrong."
He added: "The only reason I’m being straight and honest and the reason I went to the Garda station is because Timmy was my friend. That’s the only reason."
Two months later, on 16 December 2019, James Brady was arrested on suspicion of the murder of Timmy Hourihane and interviewed at the Bridewell Garda Station in Cork.
During this interview, he said that Timmy disappeared for two weeks from the tented area in the Mardyke, before returning and saying that his aunt in west Cork had died.
On Saturday, 12 October, James Brady was drinking "all day", it was his birthday and after he went to some of the homeless services, he got a lift back to the Mardyke from a volunteer.
It was raining and he told gardaí: "I don't know what it was, there was something that night." He had cans and was talking to the other man and the man’s girlfriend at the man’s tent.
Timmy arrived and said to him, "would you ever come out of the closet". The accused knew Timmy was gay and had no problem with that. Timmy was hugging him and he pushed him away, "messing," and they were "laughing and joking".
The other man who cannot be named, "didn’t like the fact that he [Timmy] was there," the accused said, and "Timmy got a dig out of nowhere". He landed on the ground and got back up.
The accused told gardaí that he told the other man to stop but the other man "snapped" and hit Timmy again. Timmy fell and "he started on his head," he said, and "kept going". He said at one point in the interview that he told the other man to "cop on" after the other man snapped, but the man was "kicking him [Timmy] in the head" and Timmy was screaming. He hit him "20 or 25 kicks in a short time," he said.
Afterwards, the other man said "I’ll deal with him, whatever happens" and then went to his tent and got changed.
He himself, the accused, walked off and ended up going to a meeting later in the morning and met his sponsor who asked him if he had had something to do with what happened at the Mardyke. His Dad brought him to the Garda station in Mayfield.
Later in the interview, he told gardaí that it was about 12.30am when they were standing outside one of the tents and Timmy came over to him. "He was full of life, as he always was."
Two weeks before this, Timmy gave him a hug and they were "slagging and messing" and the other man "snapped at Timmy" and then Timmy was gone for two weeks.
The trial continues.
