Accused says he and sister ‘off their heads’ on drugs

The man accused of murdering Mr Kivlehan told gardaí that he and his sister were ‘off their heads’ on drugs and that he’d thought the deceased had “touched her up” when he’d stabbed him.

The memos of Keith Brady’s garda interviews were read to the Central Criminal Court yesterday (Monday) on the fifth day of his trial.

Sergeant Martin McHale told Dara Foynes BL, prosecuting, that he interviewed the accused for a fourth time on 5 th August that year. The court had previously heard that he’d denied involvement in his first interviews.

“Myself and Janice (pictured) were off our heads and things got out of control. Things just got out of control. That’s all,” he said on this occasion, explaining that he had been on drugs and had ‘a slight recollection’ of what happened.

“I didn’t want him to be dead. But he is dead,” he continued. “I can do nothing about that. I wish I could change what happened but I know I can’t.”

He said that he and his sister, Janice Brady, had arrived at the deceased man’s home and he had let them in. They had been sitting down, drinking, and ‘ things were grand’, he said.

“Things got messy. He got messy,” he continued. “Something happened with Janice. I think he touched her up. There was blood. He was stabbed.”He said his recollection was poor, but added: “I stabbed him. I stabbed him. Janice, she put the knife to his throat.”

The trial has heard that the deceased had sustained two stab wounds, one to each side of his neck.

He was found by friends on the morning of the August bank holiday.

The jury began watching a video of this fourth interview on Monday afternoon and will watch the remainder when the trial resumes this morning (Tuesday).