Tadgh Butler trial: Kilkenny accused found crouched behind wall near home following stabbing

A murder trial has heard that the accused man was found crouched down behind a wall near his home, shortly after a stabbing in the house.

The arresting officer gave the evidence this (Friday) morning in the Central Criminal Court trial of a 37-year-old father of five, charged with murdering his nephew’s friend at a party.

Tadhg Butler, with an address at Seafield in Tramore, and originally from Kilkenny, is accused of murdering 25-year-old Michael O’Dwyer on  January 10, 2014. He has pleaded not guilty.

Detective Sergeant Shay Keevans testified that he arrived to the Seafield holiday homes that night to find a man being tended to on the ground. He told Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that this man had a wound to his chest, was very pale and in need of medical attention.

After making enquiries as to what had happened, he knocked on Mr Butler’s door. He got no reply and tried to open it, but it was locked.

He directed that the door would be forced, and he and a number of colleagues then entered the house. Nobody was found inside, but D Sgt Keevans noticed a pool of blood in the hall and an open window at the rear of the living area.

A colleague then brought it to his attention that there was a man in a laneway outside. The sergeant went out to the laneway.

“I went to the end of the wall, and crouched in at the wall was the defendant, Tadhg Butler,” he said.

D Sgt Keevans arrested the accused on suspicion of assault causing harm to Mr O’Dwyer.

The trial continues this (Friday) afternoon before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury of six men and six women.