Murder accused tried to protect himself while man he later stabbed held chair leg, witness tells trial

Alison O'Riordan

A murder accused was squatting down trying to protect his head while the man he would later fatally stab held the leg of a chair and told him "stop or I'll beat you one", a witness has told the Central Criminal Court.

The witness also agreed that the accused must have had "a colossal amount" of whiskey on the night.

Valeriu Melnic (24), with an address at Calliaghstown Lower, Rathcoole, Co Dublin, is charged with murdering Ion Daghi (39) at The Close, Sallins Park, Sallins in Co Kildare on May 12th, 2024.

Mr Melnic has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to Mr Daghi's manslaughter.

A pathologist has told the jury that Mr Daghi died from a single stab wound to the chest, which measured 13cm in depth, and death would have been very rapid.

Moldovan național Alexandru Beccieu (24), who has given evidence over the last two days, told Carl Hanahoe SC, prosecuting, that he and Mr Melnic went to Mr Daghi's house in Sallins for a barbeque around 8pm on May 11th. He said the accused's sister was the partner of Mr Daghi.

Mr Beccieu said he had brought a bottle of whiskey, which he shared with the accused and Mr Daghi. The men bought another bottle of whiskey or "a strong drink" later in the night and returned to Mr Daghi's house, where they continued drinking.

The witness said the atmosphere was "different" before they went to get a third bottle of whiskey from a nightclub in Naas. He said the accused had gotten drunk and was "speaking ugly" to Mr Daghi.

The witness said both he and Mr Daghi were trying to calm Mr Melnic down, but the accused was "very drunk".

Mr Beccieu said Mr Daghi was trying to calm the accused down "with nice words," but the deceased's patience was wearing thin. He said when Mr Melnic's behaviour wasn't changing, Mr Daghi "wasn't being very kind either" and told him to take his car and go home.

The accused and Mr Daghi then started to pull at each other. Mr Melnic, the witness said, had started to pull at Mr Daghi first, and the accused said he wasn't going anywhere.

The witness said he went between his friends to pull them apart when they started throwing punches at each other. Mr Beccieu said the accused tried to hit him and was successful on the second occasion. He said Mr Daghi then got in between them and separated them.

Mr Baccieu went to look for the accused's car keys because Mr Melnic wasn't calming down after Mr Daghi told him to go home.

When the witness came back, he said the accused was "down" or on the ground with his hands on his head, trying to ward something off" and that Mr Daghi had a piece of a chair in his hand.

A woman took Mr Melnic into the house, and Mr Baccieu and Mr Daghi stayed outside smoking a cigarette.

The witness said Mr Daghi looked in the window of the house and saw the accused and his sister pulling at each other.

Mr Daghi went into the kitchen to see what was happening and came out seconds later.

The witness continued: "Mr Daghi said he cut and fell down in front of me. After he fell down on his stomach, I turned him around on his back and asked what was wrong with him".

He said Mr Daghi's mother was crying and screaming. Asked how long Mr Daghi was in the kitchen for, the witness said "he just went in and came back out".

Mr Baccieu said the deceased had fallen around a metre from the entrance to the kitchen.

Asked again what Mr Daghi had said when he came out of the kitchen, the witness said the deceased told him "he cut me, go," but he didn't understand where Mr Daghi was telling him to go.

Under cross-examination, Mr Beccieu agreed with Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that the accused was "very drunk" as he had never seen him "speak like that way before".

The witness also agreed that the accused had been pouring more whiskey for himself than the others.

He further agreed Mr Melnic must have had "a colossal amount" of the whiskey as the deceased didn't have a lot of alcohol in his system.

The witness clarified that Mr Daghi had the leg of the chair in his hand when the accused was squatting down with his hands over his head, trying to protect it.

He said he hadn't seen Mr Daghi hit Mr Melnic but heard the deceased say, "stop or I'll beat you one".

In his opening address, Mr Hanahoe said it was the State's case that the accused “armed himself with a kitchen knife” and stabbed Mr Daghi once in the chest following an altercation after the pair had spent the night drinking together.

The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice David Keane and a jury of eight men and four women.