A food delivery cyclist has gone on trial charged with murdering a 16-year-old boy and assaulting two other people with a knife, in a series of confrontations lasting just over a minute.
George Gonzaga Bento, originally from Brazil, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Josh Dunne in the East Wall Road area of north Dublin in January last year.
He has also denied producing a knife and assaulting another 16-year-old as well as another young man during the same incident.
On the night of 26 January last year, in a series of confrontations, lasting just one minute and 15 seconds, Josh Dunne was fatally stabbed, another 16-year-old was injured and a third man was also stabbed, the jury was told.
Prosecuting counsel Sean Guerin told the jurors that sometimes a murder case involves complicated, intricate evidence of long-term planning but this was not such a case.
The events began and unfolded in a surprisingly short space of time, he said, without any prior interactions between the various participants.
Mr Dunne from Ballymun, north Dublin, had spent the day in town with friends.
At around 9pm, they made their way to a pizza place near East Wall Road.
Unfortunately, Mr Guerin said, the restaurant was closed and they had to turn back.
At the same time, Mr Gonzaga Bento, a Brazilian man working as a food delivery cyclist was with a friend, when they saw a man on a moped steal another delivery cyclist's bike from outside a shop.
Mr Gonzaga Bento and his friend followed the man on the moped up the road and confronted him when he stopped.
Mr Guerin told the jurors they would see almost all of the events that followed on CCTV footage recorded by a camera across the road.
Mr Gonzaga Bento and his friend recovered the bicycle and there was a confrontation between them and the man on the moped.
During this confrontation, it is the prosecution case that Mr Gonzaga Bento produced a knife.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
At the same time, Mr Dunne and his friends came upon the incident after coming back up the road from the pizza place. Some of them became involved and Mr Dunne took hold of the moped.
Mr Guerin said there was some violence used by some of the young people and the man on the moped on Mr Gonzaga Bento and his friend.
During this, Mr Guerin said it was the prosecution case that Mr Gonzaga Bento stabbed one of Mr Dunne's friends, more than once.
Mr Guerin said the footage shows the man who stole the bicycle taking his moped back and Mr Dunne then becoming involved in the confrontation and using force towards Mr Gonzaga Bento.
He said the interaction between Mr Dunne and Mr Gonzaga Bento lasted just five seconds but it was the prosecution case that during that time, Mr Gonzaga Bento stabbed Mr Dunne twice in the chest.
Mr Guerin said Mr Gonzaga Bento was the only person who had a knife and the only person who could have inflicted those injuries.
Mr Dunne collapsed at the scene from an unsurvivable injury and was declared dead around an hour later.
At the same time, another two men arrived on the scene.
Mr Guerin said they became involved and their behaviour was "aggressive and violent".
Mr Gonzaga Bento's friend was beaten by these two men and one of them was stabbed by Mr Gonzaga Bento.
The entire incident, from the time Mr Dunne first took hold of the moped, lasted just one minute and 15 seconds, Mr Guerin said.
The jury members were told it was likely they would have to consider the issue of self-defence in this trial.
Mr Guerin said when Mr Gonzaga Bento was interviewed by gardaí, he invoked fear for himself and his friend.
Mr Guerin said the law allowed the use of force in certain circumstances. But he said the jurors would have to decide if the use of force was necessary in these circumstances and if the amount of force used was reasonable.
He said it was the prosecution case that the use of the knife and the way it was used were matters that were incapable of being justified and the jury should return guilty verdicts on all counts.
Mr Guerin also told the jurors that the defence had made a number of admissions which would significantly shorten the duration of the trial.
These included an admission that Mr Dunne died as a result of a stab injury to the right side of his chest and admissions in relation to the garda investigation.
The trial may last three to four weeks.
