'I gave him the fatal blow but he brought out the hatchet to hurt us'

EOIN REYNOLDS

A murder accused told gardai that he struck the fatal blow but only after the deceased attacked him with a hatchet during a dispute about a chihuahua.
Wayne Cluskey (25), and Josh Turner (24), both of Mooretown, Ratoath, Co Meath have pleaded not guilty to the murder of 27-year-old Christopher Nevin (below) at Tailteann Road, Navan on November 19, 2015.

At the Central Criminal Court today (Tuesday) Detective Garda Patrick Muldowney told prosecuting counsel Michael O'Higgins SC that Josh Turner went voluntarily to Navan Garda station on November 23, four days after Mr Nevin was killed. He was arrested on suspicion of Mr Nevin's murder and gave a number of interviews to gardai.

In the second interview on the morning of November 24 he told gardai: 'I gave him the fatal blow but he brought out the hatchet to hurt us. The stupid c**t. If he hadn't brought out the hatchet he wouldn't be lying on the floor dead.'
Det Gda Muldowney said Mr Turner was visibly upset during the interviews, in which he gave an account of the background to the fight.

Mr Turner said he loaned Mr Nevin a male chihuahua to cover three females that Mr Nevin wanted to breed. He said he wanted e250 for the dog but a dispute arose when Mr Nevin first claimed that the dog had gone missing, and then said the dog was 'shooting blanks'. He said Mr Nevin complained that only one of the dogs was pregnant.

On November 19 he said he spoke to Mr Nevin over the phone and arranged to meet him at a mutual friend's house. He said Nevin told him he was going to 'fix me up' with the money.
Mr Turner went with Wayne Cluskey to the house on Tailteann Road and knocked on the window. Christopher Nevin called out saying: 'Hold on, I want to put my runners on.'

Mr Turner told gardai he turned his back to the door as he waited for Mr Nevin to emerge. 'As I turned back around I seen Nevin coming at me with a green hatchet.'
He said Mr Nevin hit him once or twice and then Wayne Cluskey got involved. As Mr Cluskey and Mr Nevin rolled around on the ground Mr Turner took the hatchet out of Nevin's hand.

He told gardai: 'I'm not going to lie to you. I should have thrown it away.'
Instead, he told gardai that he hit Mr Nevin on the head with the blunt side of the hatchet. He said he saw blood running down Mr Nevin's face but he didn't realise he was fighting for his life.
'I didn't go there for a fight,' he said. 'A hatchet came out. I hit him but I didn't hit him with the sharp end.'
He said that he and Mr Nevin had been 'very good friends' and had never fallen out before. He only wanted the money for his dog and added: 'When he went out with the hatchet I was like, 'what the f**k is this guy up to?''

The court also heard from Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis who told prosecuting counsel Karl Finnegan BL that he identified four blows that would be consistent with being struck with a heavy object, like an axe. Two blows to the head and one to the neck had caused fractures to the skull, internal bleeding and swelling of the brain.

He added: 'Severe force would have been necessary to inflict these injuries.'
He concluded that Mr Nevin died from blunt force trauma to the head. A fourth blow to the body had also caused injuries but did not lead to his death.
The trial continues tomorrow (Wednesday) in front of Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury of nine men and three women.