Accused men had 'common goal' to kill or cause serious injury to Mr Nevin court hears

EOIN REYNOLDS

Two murder accused were working together to kill a man who was attacked with a hatchet and axe during an argument over a pedigree chihuahua, a prosecution barrister told a jury today.
Michael O'Higgins SC gave his closing speech in the trials of Wayne Cluskey (25), and Josh Turner (24) both of Mooretown, Ratoath, Co Meath. Both men have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Christopher Nevin at Tailteann Road, Navan on November 19, 2015.
In his closing speech today Mr O'Higgins said the two men had a 'common goal' to kill or cause serious injury to Mr Nevin and 'they executed that together'.
Explaining the State's case he said Mr Turner loaned a dog, a male chihuahua, to Mr Nevin who had three females that he wanted to breed. The dispute arose when only one of the females got pregnant. 'There was ongoing friction about that,' said Mr O'Higgins.

He said Mr Cluskey and Mr Turner drove to the home of a mutual friend where they knew Mr Nevin would be. Josh Turner knocked on the window of the house and Christopher Nevin emerged with a hatchet. Mr O'Higgins asked the jury to consider what that means. 'He may have been concerned for his own safety,' he said, adding that such concern would have been well founded when you look at what happened next.
Urging the jury to look closely at the CCTV footage, he said they would see that Mr Nevin was at the door of the house with another man between him and Josh Turner when Wayne Cluskey entered with an axe. He said they would see Mr Cluskey 'strikes the deceased with the axe' before the two end up grappling on the ground. Then Josh Turner enters the fray and strikes Mr Nevin with the axe. 'You will see a man [Josh Turner] carefully selecting blows on Mr Nevin.'
He said Mr Turner does not look like he is in a frenzy and likened his strikes on Mr Nevin to a boxer waiting for the right moment to land their blows.
At this point Mr Cluskey can be seen getting off the ground and pulling the hatchet from Mr Nevin's hands. He then uses the hatchet to twice strike Mr Nevin.
Mr O'Higgins said both defence teams will rely on self defence and that if the jury believes the men used reasonable force to defend themselves they could acquit. If the jury believes they thought they were just defending themselves, but that they used more force than a reasonable person would think necessary, they should find the men not guilty of murder, guilty of manslaughter. He added: 'Nobody could have thought the level of force was reasonable.'
In Mr Turner's case there is a further defence of provocation, whereby if he had lost all self control because of what Mr Nevin did, a manslaughter verdict could also be returned.
He said both men had lied in their interviews with gardai and although this did not automatically mean they were guilty, he said the lies they told were designed to minimise their involvement and responsibility.
Defence counsels for the two men will give their closing speeches tomorrow in front of Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of nine men and three women.