This article is from page 17 of the 2008-04-08 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 17 JPG
THE brother-in-law of Charlie and Patrick McDonagh told the jury he was ashamed of the fact that he had not been able to prevent the death when he intervened in the fight.
“I risked my own life because I went into the middle of them but it was for nothing because I didn’t save him (Charlie),”’ said James O’ Loughlin.
Mr O’Loughlin said he and his wife Ann Marie tried to persuade Patrick to stay away from Bridge Court after he had received hospital treatment for injuries received in an earlier argument with Charlie.
Patrick insisted on going home to his wife and three children.
Back at home, Mr O’Loughlin said he tried to calm Patrick down, telling him everything could be sorted out with his brother in the morning.
He said that Charlie went out onto the street, naked from the waist up and waving a knife.
Mr O’Loughlin said Charlie ap- peared to be very drunk and was waving the knife around very slow- M4 He agreed that he had told gardai
Charlie was shouting, “Come out, come out Paddy Pudding” and that he had said this nickname was a “term of argument”. Patrick fetched a hatchet and went outside to his broth- er, despite attempts to stop him.
Mr O’Loughlin said there were “more thumps being thrown than us- ing the weapons”.
He said that after a few minutes he and his wife managed to disarm the two men and they were pulled apart. Mr O’ Loughlin dragged Char- lie back towards his house with the help of another man, Anthony Ward, Charlie’s wife’s brother.
Patrick had found the knife, thrown away during the fight, and ran at Strabo
He stabbed him 12 times in the stomach. Charlie died in hospital a Seem BDA CoM C-lKo)
Mr O’Loughlin said that there was some bad feeling within the McDon- agh family.
“They couldn’t believe he went so far on his brother. They were dis- gusted. You wouldn’t do that to an elephant,” he said.