Murder accused ‘saved cyclist’, court hears
A MAN accused of murdering schoolboy Josh Dunne saved a fellow food-delivery cyclist from more serious injuries when he used a knife to defend him from a gang, a court heard yesterday.
Guilherme Quieroz told the trial of Brazilian George Gonzaga Bento, 36, at the Central Criminal Court that before Dunne was stabbed, he and the accused were attacked on a Dublin street.
He said that having viewed
CCTV footage of the incident he now knows Bento twice came to save him – once when he was against a wall and was being punched and a second time when he was “dragged” to the road.
When Mr Bento’s defence counsel asked if Mr Queiroz was saying the accused either saved his life or saved him from more serious injuries, the witness answered: “One hundred per cent.”
He told how he suffered broken teeth, a broken nose, cuts and bruising on his face and damage to his right knee.
Bento, who has an address in East Wall in North Dublin, is charged with murdering 16-yearold Dunne at East Wall Road on January 26, 2021.
Bento is also accused of producing a utility knife in a manner likely to intimidate in the course of a dispute or fight.
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.
The prosecution alleges Bento produced a knife during a “standoff or confrontation” with a man on a moped who had stolen another delivery cyclist’s bike.
Mr Dunne and other youths arrived at the scene and got involved in the confrontation.
The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Paul Burns and a jury of five men and seven women.