Josh and two others ‘stabbed in 75 seconds’
Murder trial begins over death of schoolboy
A FOOD delivery cyclist fatally stabbed schoolboy Josh Dunne and knifed two others in a “stand-off” over a stolen bicycle, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
It is the prosecution’s case George Gonzaga Bento, 36, stabbed three people that night and events had unfolded within a “surprisingly short space of time”.
Sean Guerin, for the State, told the trial that the jury may have to consider the issue of self-defence as the accused had “invoked a fear” for himself and his friend when interviewed by gardai.
Bento, a Brazilian national, with an address in East Wall in Dublin, is charged with murdering the 16-year-old at East Wall Road on January 26 last year.
He also faces three other charges in relation to the same incident.
He is also accused of producing an article in a manner likely to intimidate another in the course of a dispute or fight, namely a utility knife. The defendant is further accused of assault causing harm to two other young men on the same occasion.
The delivery cyclist has pleaded not guilty to each of the four counts.
Josh Dunne, Mr Guerin said, was 16 years of age at the time and living in Ballymun.
He 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, Bento was with a friend, when they saw a man on a moped steal another delivery cyclist’s bike from outside a shop.
They 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.
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’s case that Bento produced a knife.
At the same time, Josh and his friends came upon the incident after coming back up the road from the pizza place.
Some of them became involved and Josh took hold of the moped.
Mr Guerin said there was some violence used by some of the young people.
He added it was the prosecution’s case that Bento stabbed one of Josh’s friends, more than once.
Mr Guerin said the footage shows the man who stole the bicycle taking his moped back and Josh then becoming involved in the confrontation and using force towards Bento.
He said the interaction between the schoolboy and the accused lasted just five seconds but it was the prosecution’s case that during that time, Bento stabbed Josh twice in the chest. Mr
Guerin said the accused was the only person who had a knife and the only person who could have inflicted those injuries.
The teenager 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”.
Bento’s friend was beaten by these two men and one of them was stabbed by the accused.
The entire incident, from the time Josh first took hold of the moped, lasted just one minute and 15 seconds, Mr Guerin said.
He added it was the prosecution’s 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.
The trial may last three to four weeks.