Witness says he put accused 'in the frame' for murder of Cork chef
Timmy Hourihane, a trained chef from west Cork, who was homeless at the time of his death.
A man accused of murdering Cork chef Timmy Hourihane tried to pull another man off him during the fatal attack, repeatedly saying “that’s enough”, a witness told the Central Criminal Court.
The witness, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said that he initially put the accused James Brady ‘in the frame’ for attacking Mr Hourihane.
He said that he did this because he was angry with Mr Brady at the time as the accused had allegedly threatened to ‘slash his throat’ over a damaged tent.
The witness had initially refused to give evidence, holding up the murder trial for almost two days.
But Justice Deirdre Murphy said that she was satisfied that his evidence - given through two garda statements which were read back to him on video - was indeed admissible.
But the witness then told the Central Criminal Court today, that some evidence he gave in those two garda statements was not true.
“I would say I lied,” the witness said.
“I thought it was assault. I found out Timmy had died after the statement was taken."
He originally told gardaí that he saw Mr Brady stamping and kicking Mr Hourihane eight to 10 times as he lay on the ground and pleaded for mercy at the ‘tented village’ off Mardyke Walk on October 13, 2019.
Even after the victim fell silent, he said that Mr Brady continued the attack.
However in evidence given in court today, the witness said that he never saw Mr Brady ‘stamping’ on the victim but he was angry with Mr Brady at the time because he had allegedly threatened to kill him so he ‘put him in the frame’.
On October 13, 2019, just hours after the killing, the witness had told gardaí that another man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had tried to stop the attack.
But the person who tried to stop the attack was actually Mr Brady, the witness said today.
“It was more [unnamed man] than James [attacking Mr Hourihane].” Although he said that “both were fighting. It was two against one.” “I could hear him [the victim] pleading with them, for it to stop. I remember them fighting.
“All I know is that [unnamed man] did the damage, James tried to pull [unnamed man] off. James couldn’t stop him, James legged it. 20 seconds later, [unnamed man] gave up.” The witness said that he witnessed the attack when he returned to the camp where he was also living off Mardyke Walk that night.
He first saw a tent on fire and then saw two men, who he believed were Mr Brady and the unnamed man, running past the burning tent after another man towards the fence. That man, who turned out to allegedly be Mr Hourihane, then “had nowhere to go”.
He gave his first statement to gardaí on October 13, 2019, just hours after Mr Hourihane was killed in the early hours of that morning by the campsite people who were homeless had erected off Mardyke Walk.
He said that when he gave his initial statement he believed it was over an assault, not a murder.
He said that he got on well with Mr Hourihane and that they “always had a laugh”.
Mr Brady had approached him a few weeks before the alleged murder and said that Mr Hourihane had made unwanted sexual advances on him, getting into his tent and trying to lie on top of him and lick his face.
When the witness approached Mr Hourihane about this, he apologised and promised that it would not happen again.
Both Mr Hourihane and Mr Brady then left the camp for some weeks, only returning a short time before the killing, the court heard.
Mr Brady, 28, of Shannon Lawn, Mayfield, has pleaded not guilty to Mr Hourihane’s murder.
The father of one was a trained chef from west Cork who was homeless at the time of his death.
He suffered extensive bleeding in his lungs due to severe blunt force head and facial trauma and died from blood inhalation with a traumatic cardiac arrest complicated by brain swelling and a lack of blood supply to the brain.
