Woman tells jury of moment bloodied nephew told her he had stabbed her partner

Alison O'Riordan

A woman has told a jury of the moment she returned home from a brief trip to the shop to be greeted by her bloodied nephew, who told her he had stabbed her partner in the neck and thought he was dead.

Ryan Kearney (39), with an address at Loughnamona Drive, Leixlip, Co Kildare has pleaded not guilty to murdering Jeffrey Jackson (50) at The Lamps, School Street, Kilcock, Co Kildare on February 8th, 2024.

Jeffrey Jackson's partner, Breda Kearney, today told Brendan Grehan SC, prosecuting, that she had been in a relationship with Mr Jackson for about 18 months before he had died. Ms Kearney agreed that Ryan Kearney was her nephew through marriage and she had known him since he was eight years old.

Recalling the evening of February 7th, 2024, Ms Kearney said the couple had stayed over with Mr Jackson's mother and shared a 70cl bottle of vodka.

The witness said she and Mr Jackson returned to her apartment in Kilcock around 2.30pm the next day but there had been no arrangement for the accused to come to 'The Lamps'.

Ms Kearney said when Ryan arrived into her apartment he had a bag of shopping from Lidl and two six packs of Budweiser. When she asked the accused what he was doing there, the witness explained that Ryan had said he was in 'big trouble' as he taken his partner's social welfare card and spent "all the money".

Ms Kearney said she went to the shop 20 minutes after Ryan arrived. When she was leaving the apartment she said Mr Jackson was answering the accused's phone to speak to his partner, who she heard "screeching" down the phone.

When she returned from the shop around 3.32pm, Ms Kearney said Ryan was standing in the hallway and had blood on his hands. The witness said she asked Ryan what was wrong and the accused replied: "I stabbed Jeffrey in the neck, I think he is dead".

Ms Kearney said she asked Ryan what he was talking about and went into the living room, where she saw Mr Jackson lying on a leather couch with his legs dangling and his head up against the window. "I thought it was a joke and he was going to hop up".

The witness said there was blood "spilling" out Mr Jackson's nose and mouth and his eyes were closed. She said blood "seemed to be everywhere" so she got a tea towel and pressed it on his neck. She said she was in absolute shock and was trying to ring emergency services at the same time.

Ms Kearney said there was a wound on her partner's abdomen and it was 'squirting' blood. She asked Ryan to grab another towel for another wound.

Under cross-examination, Ms Kearney agreed with Michael Bowman SC, defending, that his client was an alcoholic and had difficulty with drink as long as she knew him.

The witness denied that Mr Jackson had a difficulty with alcohol or that he would be more aggressive or belligerent with drink. She agreed she had told gardaí that Mr Jackson had previously burst his knuckle on the accused's head when they had been drinking.

Ms Kearney said she hadn't seen her partner drink alcohol on February 8 but that he would have had drink in his system from the previous night.

She denied that Ryan had taken Mr Jackson's drink that afternoon and that the deceased had become irate with him.

In his opening speech, Mr Grehan told the jury that evidence of 16 separate knife injuries suffered by Mr Jackson during a "ferocious attack" in a Co Kildare apartment did not fit with Mr Kearney's account of having stabbed the deceased in self defence.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Burns and a jury of three men and nine women.