A teenager has pleaded not guilty to the murder of a 17-year old in a stabbing incident which happened in Co Mayo a week before Christmas.

The accused, who was 16 when the incident happened in the early hours of December 19, 2015, pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the Central Criminal Court sitting in Castlebar, yesterday.

A jury of eight women and four men was told by Justice Eileen Creedon that the trial of the teenager, who cannot be named because of his age, could take two weeks.

The court was told that both the accused and the deceased, 17-year old Dovydas Jenkas of Mount Street, Claremorris, were known to each other and were involved in sport together. They had been friendly but the friendship had cooled.

Both of them had moved to Ireland at different stages some years earlier with their families from Lithuania. The accused and the deceased both went to the same school but were in different years.

Prosecuting counsel Patrick McGrath, outlining the case to the jury, said that the accused’s sister and the deceased had started going out with each other but that the accused was unaware of this.

He said that on the night on the incident the accused and his sister were alone in their house in Claremorris, Co Mayo, after their mother had gone to Castlebar to meet friends.

Dovydas Jenkas had called to the house and went to the master bedroom to watch YouTube videos with the sister of the accused.

Mr McGrath said that the accused wasn’t aware of his arrival and went to investigate when he heard noise from his mother’s bedroom but the door was locked. He said that Dovydas Jenkas went to the ensuite bathroom.

Mr McGrath said that the accused went back to his own bedroom and picked up a homemade knife. He looked out the window and saw a person climbing down a pipe and recognised him.

The court was told that the accused ran downstairs and out the back with the knife and that he chased after the deceased around a trampoline.

Mr McGrath said that at some stage a single knife wound to the chest was inflicted.

Mr McGrath told the jury they would be told that the accused never intended to stab the Mr Jenkas and that the accused ran into him with the knife out.

But Mr McGrath said that evidence from State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, would show that there was rapid lung collapse and that the angle of the stab was downward at an angle of 45 degrees, which was not consistent with impaling.

The court heard that neighbours and paramedics rushed to the scene when the alarm was raised and that frantic efforts were made to save the life of the 17-year but that Dovydas Jenkas was pronounced dead at the scene at 3.40am on the morning of December 19, 2015.

The case continues in Castlebar this morning.

Online Editors