Dublin teenager admits attempted murder

A South Co Dublin teenager accused of the attempted murder of a 17-year-old has changed his plea to guilty during his Central Criminal Court trial.

Tadhg Costello, 18, of Richmond Hill, Monkstown, had pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Josh Leahy at Johnson's Court in Dublin city on 31 May 2012.

He had also pleaded not guilty to assault causing harm to Mr Leahy and unlawful possession of a knife on the same date.

Last week the jury heard how Mr Leahy was stabbed six times in the back after he left a nightclub in South William Street in Dublin 2.

Mr Leahy suffered a collapsed lung and had a chest drain inserted at St James's Hospital.

Mr Paul Burns SC prosecuting told the court on day five of the trial that Costello could be re-arraigned on the attempted murder charge to which the accused pleaded guilty.

Mr Burns told the court that the other two counts would be taken into consideration.

Mr Justice Paul Butler told the jury the plea was accepted and thanked them before excusing them from further service for a period of five years.

The plea came following a decision by the judge on foot of two days of legal argument over the admissibility of Costello's garda interview recordings.

On Tuesday the court was told in the jury's absence that Costello had taken ill and was brought to the Mater Hospital.

The court heard that there was no objection to the accused remaining on bail.

Mr Justice Butler remanded Costello on continuing bail and will sentence him on 7 March next.

The judge ordered that victim impact reports be made available to the court on that date.

Last week Mr Leahy gave evidence to the court that he went to The Lost Society nightclub with two other friends on the night of 30 May last year.

He said he stayed at the nightclub until it closed at 2.30am or 3am and was walking up towards Grafton Street when the incident happened at the junction of Clarendon Street and Johnson's Court.

Mr Leahy said he and his two friends met a group of eight people who started shouting at them as they were walking by.

He said he knew one of them, Sean Plunkett, who was going out with his ex-girlfriend Sarah Whelan.

Mr Leahy said he walked around the corner and the other group were all shouting at them.

"They were shouting at us, provoking us," Mr Leahy told the court.

He said one of the men had a knife and was waving it at them before his friend, 'Daffy', was hit by one of them.

He said about six of the men jumped on him and he tried to defend himself by putting his arms over his head.

Mr Leahy told the court that they were hitting him and threw him against a wall.

He said it lasted until he saw them running away and when he got to the top of the alleyway he saw a garda vehicle driving by.

Mr Leahy said his ex-girlfriend came up to ask him if he was alright and she told him he had been stabbed.

He said he was starting to lose his breath and the gardai called an ambulance, which took him to hospital.

Emmanuel Mihaylov told the court that he and Mr Leahy and another friend were on their way towards Clarendon Street when they came across a group of people.

He said there was shouting, intimidation and provocation coming from the group and that his friend 'Daffy' was shouting back at them. He said another guy hit 'Daffy' unexpectedly.

"Josh and Daffy are being hit by the lot of them," said Mr Mihaylov.

Mr Mihaylov said he saw the accused standing two or three metres away holding a knife.

"I stood up and Tadhg Costello was holding a knife and facing me", he said.

He said he went to hit a man who was attacking Mr Leahy but he was rugby tackled to the ground and nobody hit him after that.

He told the court one of the guys from the other group knew him from long time ago and told him to leave him alone.

Mr Mihaylov said Mr Leahy's back was covered in blood and he could not breathe at all.

He said when Mr Leahy was taken to hospital he was driven around by gardaí and he pointed out the accused.

Under cross-examination Mr Damien Colgan SC defending put it to him he had said in his own statement that Mr Leahy and another man did not get on.

"Basically Josh and Sean hate each other," Mr Mihaylov said in the statement.

Garda Michael O'Shea said he was on plain-clothes mobile patrol with Garda Mark Eccles on Grafton Street on 31 May 2012.

Garda O'Shea said a description of a group of males involved in a fight came over the radio.

He said when he arrived at St Stephen's Green some of the men had got into a taxi and a few of them were standing waiting to get into it.

Garda O'Shea said they identified themselves as gardaí and asked the men to get out of the taxi.

He said he observed the accused throw a shiny object behind the rails and Garda Eccles then got over them and recovered a knife.

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