A WOMAN who told her boyfriend she had been raped by another man whom he then stabbed to death has admitted it was all "a blatant, disgusting lie".

Jessica Klok (18) was giving evidence in the trial of Martin Ollo (19) of An Doireann Aileann, Killarney, who is accused of conspiring with Shane Regan to assault Stephen Lyne.

Mr Lyne, of Castle Falls in the town, died of a single stab wound to the back on the Ross Road, Killarney, on June 18, 2009.

Mr Regan of Droumkerry, Fossa, Killarney, is said to have inflicted the fatal wound but was never charged in connection with the killing. He died in Tralee in 2010, aged 18, in an unrelated incident after a fall in a house.

Yesterday, Ms Klok, his former girlfriend, told Tralee Circuit Criminal Court that Mr Regan killed Mr Lyne because he believed he had raped her.

"I lied that Stephen Lyne had raped me," she said yesterday. "It was all just a blatant, disgusting lie."

Ms Klok said Mr Regan told her he had killed Mr Lyne and that Mr Ollo had helped him.

"He did not say what he did or how he helped him. I got the impression Martin Ollo did nothing," she said.

In her statement to gardai, Ms Klok said she thought Mr Regan was "mentally sick" because he showed no remorse for what had happened to Mr Lyne. The victim's mother, Lottie Lyne, broke down as she told the court of the last time she has saw her son alive.

"He came into the room (on the day before he died) and put his arms around me and said he loved me.

"That was the last time I saw my son," she said.

Mrs Lyne told the court that she had been told the rumour that her son had raped a girl at knifepoint in a wood but said she didn't believe it.

"I absolutely knew it wasn't true. I knew my son," she said.

Danger

Mr Lyne's family also believed he was in danger and was being "set up" in the days before his death.

Previously, the court was told that Mr Regan was "upset and angry" when he returned to the murder scene and tried to slit his own wrists.

However, Ms Klok told the court that Mr Regan had planned to slit his own wrists because he wanted to end up in a "psychiatric unit and not a cell". Tom Rice, prosecuting, said Mr Ollo and Mr Regan had planned revenge on Mr Lyne because they believed he was "raping girls".

He said the case stemmed from events that occurred at the Demesne in Killarney on the June weekend.

"The prosecution believes that was the motive of the attack.

"They conspired and planned to get revenge," Mr Rice said.

He said the plan was that Mr Ollo would lure Mr Lyne to a place on Scrahan Mews off the Ross Road to assault him with Mr Regan.

The trial continues before Judge Carroll Moran.

Irish Independent