A MURDER ACCUSED, who killed a 20-year-old man with a baseball bat, can be presumed to have intended to kill or seriously injure him, the State will argue before a jury.

The 49-year-old went on trial at the Central Criminal Court charged with murdering Joseph Dunne in Co. Kildare seven years ago.

Zoltan Almasi, a Serbian-born man with an address at Harbour View, Naas, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to Dunne’s manslaughter at Harbour View on 16 May 2014.

The jury has been told that there have already been two trials in the case.

Caroline Biggs SC opened his third trial for a jury of seven men and four women yesterday afternoon.

She said that the deceased was living in Athy with his parents and older brothers at the time, and was attending Fás.

On the evening he died, he had met up with a number of friends in Naas. They were on their way to get a bus around 10.30pm when Dunne had a brief altercation with a different man.

It was after this altercation that he passed Almasi’s Mercedes van parked outside his home. Dunne hit the van as he passed by.

“Mr Almasi came out of his house, armed himself with a baseball bat and gave chase,” said Ms Biggs, explaining that he soon caught up with Dunne.

“It’s the prosecution case that he hit him on the head with the baseball bat, whereby Mr Dunne fell to the ground and died,” she said.

Counsel explained that the postmortem examination found a comminuted, depressed fracture of his skull.

“Comminuted means shattered, and depressed means that the bone had been driven into the brain,” she explained.

“The crux of the prosecution case is that, in taking the baseball bat to this head and hitting him in that way, he can be presumed to have intended those consequences of death or at the very least serious harm, and is therefore guilty of murder,” she said.

She had explained that one of the essential elements of murder was a presumption to have intended the natural and probable consequences of one’s act.

Barra McGrory QC, defending, made a number of admissions on behalf of his client. These included accepting that he’d caused Dunne’s death.

The trial continues today before Justice Michael White and is expected to last four weeks.

Comments are closed due to ongoing legal proceedings.