Murder trial hears of row in bar over cocaine

A BARMAN has told a murder trial that he saw the accused ‘strike’ a man in the neck and that blood was ‘flowing’ from him as he lay on his side.

Mark Crawford, 43, is on trial for murdering Patrick ‘Pa’ O’Connor, 24, in a Limerick city pub in an alleged row over a €100 cocaine deal.

In his opening address to the jury on Monday, prosecuting counsel John Fitzgerald said the accused man and the deceased had been taking cocaine together on the night and Mr O’Connor was aggrieved that he had paid

€100 for cocaine but had not received it.

Giving evidence yesterday, witness Jack McGrath said he arrived at Fitzgerald’s Bar at around 10pm on July 7, 2018 and was chatting to his friend Patrick O’Connor, who knew him from primary school, and that Mr Crawford was also in the bar. The witness said Mr O’Connor told him that he had been drinking for the day and backing horses.

Mr McGrath testified that Mr O’Connor told him later that evening that he was ‘after getting burnt for €100 for cocaine’. ‘He was inquisitive if he was going to get the €100 or cocaine and what the end result would be,’ said Mr McGrath. The witness said he told his friend not to get too excited as the bar owner was in the pub at the time.

Mr McGrath said Mr O’Connor told him later on in the night that he had not received the cocaine and he was wondering what was going to happen. ‘I told him to relax and it would all sort itself out. He wasn’t that agitated at all,’ he said.

Mr McGrath said that Mr O’Connor and Mr Crawford were sitting together by the door when he left shortly before midnight.

Barman Cyril O’Connor testified that he saw Patrick O’Connor and Mr Crawford ‘arguing but in a whispered tone’ and he heard €50 being mentioned.

He noted that the atmosphere was ‘edgy’ in the bar that evening. Cyril O’Connor said: ‘All I heard was a chair move, there wasn’t a word, a shout or a scream.

‘As I looked to the left I could see the accused striking Patrick in the neck area.’

The barman said that he saw Mr Crawford ‘rapidly’ hitting Mr O’Connor four or five times and thought he was stopping a fight when he ran over to their table. The barman said Mr Crawford was making his move to leave the premises when he gave chase.

Cyril O’Connor said he locked the front door to the pub after Mr Crawford left and then saw Mr O’Connor lying on his side with ‘blood flowing away from him’.

The witness said the deceased had two marks to his neck and was unconscious.

Mr Crawford of Quarry Road, Thomondgate, Co. Limerick, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr O’Connor at Fitzgerald’s Bar, Sexton Street, in Limerick city, between July 7 and July 8, 2018.

The trial continues tomorrow before Judge Tara Burns and a jury of 11 men and one woman. It is expected to last two weeks.

‘Burnt for €100 of cocaine’ ‘Blood flowing away from him’