Stabbing Jason to death’
friend Conor Hogan assaulted the accused twice on the streets of Waterford over a 20 minute period prior to the stabbing, which happened at about 3.15 a.m.
Dr Curtis also noted that the deceased had tattoos on his body, one of which said: ‘Only God can judge me’. The other read: ‘The devil made me do it.’
Dr Clara Boland of the Forensic Science Laboratories told Mr O’Kelly that she examined a knife found near the scene which it is accepted Mr Da Silva used to inflict the fatal injury. Dr Boland took swabs from the knife and found DNA profiles matching those of Mr Hogan and the deceased.
Dr Ulrich Fick said he examined the accused at 4.44 a.m. at Waterford Garda Station, about 90 minutes after the stabbing. He found him to be in a highly intoxicated state and told gardai that Mr Da Silva would not be fit for interview for six hours.
DAY EIGHT
The father of three who is on trial for murder told gardai he couldn’t remember stabbing a man to death when questioned the day after the fatal assault.
Detective Garda Kevin Nolan told prosecuting counsel Noel Whelan BL that he interviewed the accused at Waterford Garda Station on October 8, 2016, the same day that Mr Banville died.
He agreed that during those interviews Mr Da Silva described an assault on him by two men at the steps leading to the apartment where he lived. When gardai put it to him that following that assault he pursued his attackers and assaulted them in retaliation, he said he couldn’t remember.
At the beginning of the first interview Mr Da Silva, who was declared unfit for interview due to intoxication when first arrested, told gardai: ‘I was quite drunk. I only know what is going on today.’
The accused said he arrived in Ireland the previous month to work at a local meat factory as a general assistant. He has three children and he worked to take care of his family.
The previous evening, Friday, he went out with three other Brazilians after work, at between five and six o’clock.
He played snooker at one pub for about two hours and then went to a nightclub but he couldn’t remember how much he drank.
After the nightclub he headed home and along the way he spoke to two women who were sitting on a bench outside his apartment. He couldn’t remember what he said to them and added that he does not speak English.
While he was speaking to the two girls, someone came up behind him and attacked him, punching and kicking him and knocking him to the ground.
He told gardai his attackers then ‘disappeared’ and he went back to his apartment and was arrested a short time later.
Gardai said to him that something happened between the assault and his arrest and he replied: ‘What I remember is what I said.’
The interviewing gardai asked him if he accepted that he assaulted someone. ‘No I don’t,’ he replied. Gardai asked him if he had a knife at the time and he responded: ‘No.’
Gardai then showed Mr Da Silva CCTV footage showing him walking after the two men following the assault. He told them that he did follow them but when he got to the corner of New Street the two men were gone and he went back to his apartment. ‘I’m remembering now,’ he told them.
Gardai put it to him again that he assaulted the two men and he replied: ‘No, no, no. They assaulted me and I went to the corner and came back.’
They asked him if he followed them to retaliate and he replied: ‘I understand but my head is all messed up.’ He repeated that he could not remember. When gardai said to him that the CCTV shows that his movements were “a lot different” to what he had told them he told them: “My head is confused.”
At the end of the second interview he said he couldn’t remember hitting or assaulting anyone.
At the start of the trial Mr Da Silva’s counsel Colman Cody SC told the jury that his client accepts that he stabbed Mr Banville, causing the fatal injury.
DAY NINE
A Brazilian who has admitted stabbing a man to death told gardai that he didn’t have a knife and had never carried knives when interviewed following the fatal assault.
Detective Garda Kevin Nolan told prosecuting counsel John O’Kelly SC that he interviewed the accused at Waterford Garda Station on October 8 and 9 2016. The court has previously heard that Mr Hogan and Mr Banville twice assaulted the accused on the streets of Waterford City before a third encounter that left Mr Banville dead and Mr Hogan needing stitches to a wound under his arm.
Garda Nolan agreed that during interview gardai told Mr Da Silva that following the second assault he had the option of going back to his apartment but instead followed the two men up the street.
Mr Da Silva said he could remember that after the assault the two men were ‘gesturing’ and it looked like they were going to come back. He said he followed them as far as the corner but he didn’t see the two men again and so he came back to his apartment.
Gardai put it to him that he was holding a knife and that one witness saw him carrying a knife when he followed the two men.
He said: ‘I disagree. If it were me I would say it.’
Gardai asked him why he assaulted the men and whether he was defending himself but he said he did not see the men again.
Gardai asked him what he did with the knife and he said: ‘I didn’t have a knife.’ They asked if he carried a knife and he replied: ‘No. I have never killed anybody.’
They asked if he went up there to defend himself and he replied: ‘No. I was drunk. I couldn’t defend myself.’
He added that he has never walked around with arms in Ireland or in Brazil.
Interviewers also asked Mr Da Silva about a red jacket that he was wearing on the night but that was found nearby.
They asked him why he threw it away but he said he did not throw it away and couldn’t remember what happened to it. He said it might have fallen from his hand as he walked along.
The trial was not heard Monday due to Hurricane Ophelia and is due to continue today in front of Justice Michael Kelly and a jury of six men and six women.
Justice White told the jury that the trial will be completed before October 20.
THE INTERVIEWING GARDAI ASKED HIM IF HE ACCEPTED THAT HE ASSAULTED SOMEONE. ‘NO I DON’T,’ HE REPLIED.