Man accused of murder told gardaí he punched his friend in self-defence

Alison O’Riordan

A murder accused told gardaí that he repeatedly punched his friend in self-defence after he "came at" him, having drunkenly asked the defendant's mother for sex three times, a jury has heard.

"I didn't think it was that bad, I didn't consider he would die of his injuries. I didn't plan this. He is my friend, it happened," Tomas Cypas told detectives. He denied stamping on the deceased's head.

Cypas (35), with an address at Foxborough Road, Lucan, Co Dublin, has pleaded notguilty to murdering Juris Kokenbergs (49) at Old Bridge Park, Lucan, Co Dublin on October 28th 2024.

Detective Garda Neil McGrath told Conor Devally SC, prosecuting, that five interviews were conducted with the accused beginning on October 28, 2024

Cypas told gardaí that he visited his mother at Old Bridge Park on October 26 to celebrate her birthday and have "some drinks"

The accused said Mr Kokenbergs was already "pretty drunk" when he arrived at his mother's house. He said he wouldn't have invited his friend if he knew he was in that state.

Mr Cypas said there was an argument between him and Mr Kokenbergs, adding: "It started over him [the deceased] telling my mam to go up and have sex with him. He said it three times. The first two times I didn't hear him, but the third time I heard him".

"My mam laughed the first time. The second time, she slapped him. The third time he asked, could she suck his d**k. That's when I heard and told him to leave. I grabbed him from behind and told him to leave. This was in the kitchen, and then we made our way to the exit".

"When he struck me with a right elbow, he hit me at the top of the chest. That's when I struck him in the face. It happened so quick. I struck him with my left and right hand".

Cypas described his friend as being "so drunk" that "he didn't seem to know who he was talking to.....he had been drinking for two weeks straight".

Cypas said Kokenbergs "came at" him first and had "started the punches", so he acted in self-defence. The accused said he hit the deceased up to eight times in the face and didn't "mean to hurt him or anything".

The accused said he had used both his hands, and most of the punches were to the face. "I busted his nose, I busted his lip. I think he got a black eye on the left side. That's when he went down on his knees, he could barely stand".

The accused said he carried Kokenbergs to the sofa and put a pillow under his head as well as a blanket over him. "I wasn't thinking he could pass away".

Over the course of the next two days, when Kokenbergs was lying on the sofa, the accused said he checked on him regularly and that he had been breathing and snoring. He said he had checked on his friend up to 15 times on October 27th.

"This morning I came down, and he was fine....when I went back down later, he was on the ground, he was cold...I rang the ambulance".

Asked whether he was concerned about his friend, the accused said he didn't think he was in a bad way; "If I did, I would have called an ambulance".

The accused told gardai he had boxed and done 'Muay Thai' when he was 15 years of age. He said he hadn't meant to hurt his friend.

The accused admitted taking two photographs of the deceased's face, but couldn't remember on which of the two days he had taken them. He said the photos showed the damage to Kokenberg's face; "I wasn't intending to do all that".

Asked whether he had hit his friend with any part of his body or had kicked him, Cypas said "no kicks no".

The accused later told gardaí he had used nothing else, just his hands. "It's all from the punches, the hands are flying everywhere, I didn't use a weapon....I didn't want him to end up like this, seriously".

When gardaí put it to the accused, Kokenbergs had suffered extensive blunt force trauma to the head, the accused said he didn't think "it was that bad...I didn't consider he would die of his injuries. I didn't plan this, he is my friend, it happened".

Asked whether there was anything he was not telling gardai, Mr Cypas said "maybe ten punches, maybe 12 as I remember seven to eight punches".

The accused denied stamping on his friend's head. When gardai put it to him that the postmortem report showed that the deceased's injuries were consistent with the sole of a runner, Mr Cypas replied: "I don't know, I'm not a doctor....as far as I remember I didn't hit him with a runner".

The trial has heard that three areas of blood-staining with DNA matching that of the deceased were found on the accused man's runner.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Brendan Grehan SC, Det Gda McGrath agreed the accused had told him at the scene on the morning of October 28th that he had been drinking with the deceased and he had punched Mr Kokenbergs up to eight times before discovering him dead on the kitchen floor.

The detective agreed that Mr Cypas told him that his friend was "fine" on the day after the fight and was breathing when he checked on him at 5 am that morning [October 28th].

The witness also accepted that Cypas told him that Kokenbergs had threatened to rape his mother, but that during the interviews, the accused clarified that he meant "asking for sex".

At the outset of the murder trial, the jurors were told that they would have to consider the accused's intent at the time.

The 12 jurors were told by defence counsel Mr Grehan that the accused Cypas admits to hitting the deceased.

The trial continues on Wednesday before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of eight men and four women.