‘I don’t remember
TRIAL CONTINUES AS BRAZILIAN MAN ACCUSED OF MURDERING CLONROCHE MAN JAMES BANVILLE
THE MAN charged with the murder of County Wexford man James (Jay) Banville claimed he does not remember fatally stabbing him following a series of arguments and physical confrontations.
Last week jury of six men and six women at trial at the Central Criminal Court heard graphic detail about the wound inflicted on the 28-year-old Raheen man and witness accounts of what happened on that fateful night.
Medical evidence was also heard about the deceased who was a father-of-three and his friend, who was also injured that night; while DNA evidence from the knife which inflicted the fatal wound was outlined.
Evidence was also heard from garda interviews with the accused, Juraci Da Silva, in which he said he was defending himself having been attacked by the two Wexford men.
DAY SIX
A witness to a fatal stabbing told a murder trial that blood was coming from the deceased ‘like water coming from a hose’.
Georgina Roche told prosecuting counsel John O’Kelly SC that she tried to help 28-yearold James Banville after seeing a fight that led to him being stabbed. At first she thought the men were just boxing, but when Mr Banville lifted up his top she saw the wound. She tried asking him questions to keep him awake but he didn’t respond and his eyes rolled back in his head. He held his friend’s hand for a few minutes, but then it dropped.
‘I could see the wound,’ she said. ‘It was like water coming from a hose.’
Juraci Da Silva (36), with an address at Park Lane Apartments in Waterford, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of 28-year-old James Banville at New Street in Waterford on October 8, 2016.
His plea was not accepted by the State and he is on trial at the Central Criminal Court. Mr Da Silva has also pleaded not not guilty to assaulting Conor Hogan causing him harm and to a charge of producing a knife on the same date and at the same place.
Keith Wall was working as a security man at New Street Gardens when, shortly after 3 a.m., he noticed a ‘black man’ wearing a red jacket ‘hanging around’ on the street. He said it was normal to see people at that time, heading home after the nightclubs had shut, but this man stood out because he didn’t seem to be going anywhere.
He then heard two Irish lads shouting but he couldn’t understand what they were saying. When the ‘black man’ and the two Irish men came closer together he got the impression that they recognised one another and ‘there was a coming together’.
Mr Wall said he saw them all running and a fight broke out. The taller of the two Irish lads ‘threw a haymaker’, but missed and then all three ended up in a huddle before the two Irish men retreated. He then heard someone say ‘I’m after being stabbed’, followed by a lot of swearing and racial comments. The witness heard the phrase ‘black bastard’ repeatedly.
‘I never heard anything like it before,’ he said.
Before the fight, the witness said the two Irish men were being ‘loud and aggressive’ towards the black man, who was ‘much smaller’ than the other two. After the fight he lost sight of all three but saw the gardai and ambulance arrive some time later.
Dr John Power told Mr O’Kelly that he examined the accused the day after the stabbing and noted that he complained of dizziness, headache and had bruising around one eye.
He referred him to University Hospital Waterford as a precaution but when the hospital examined him and said he had no significant head injuries the doctor passed him as fit to be interviewed.
The jury was also shown a black handled knife which Garda Eugene O’Neill said was found nearby. The defence accepts that Mr Da Silva inflicted the fatal wound using the same knife.
DAY SEVEN
A man who was stabbed to death during a night out had alcohol, cocaine, methadone and valium in his system, a pathologist told a murder trial on Wednesday.
Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis told prosecuting counsel John O’Kelly SC that James Banville died from a single stab wound to the heart and was otherwise healthy.
Dr Curtis said the cause of death was the single stab wound that had penetrated the heart. He added that a toxicology report showed that he had alcohol, cocaine, valium and two other drugs that are sometimes used as “contaminants” in illicit drugs.
Dr Curtis agreed with defence counsel Colman Cody SC that cocaine is a strong stimulant that can lead to erratic or violent behaviour. Combining it with alcohol can enhance the effect, he said.
Methadone, he said, is often prescribed to people who are addicted to opioids such as heroin.
The court had previously heard that Mr Banville and his