Murder accused on way home to ‘wife and kids’ when attacked by two men

A man has told his murder trial that he was going home to his “wife and kids” when he was attacked by two men and used a knife in an attempt to repel them.

Andrew Lacey (35) accepted under cross-examination that he initially lied when he phoned emergency services and said two men had attacked him with knives. But he insisted that the deceased, Derek Reddin, seemed “nearly possessed” and had “swung wildly” at his head with a metal bar or a bat.

“I thought I was going to go home to my wife and kids, I never thought anything like this, I never thought I was going to be attacked on my way home. It was a regular Monday night up to this,” he said.

Mr Lacey said he feels “terrible” about what happened to Mr Reddin. “I never meant anyone any harm. I was just trying to repel them from the situation.” 

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Feud

The trial has previously heard that there was a feud between associates of Mr Lacey and the deceased.

Mr Lacey (35), of Riverside, Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Reddin (31) at Loughlinstown Drive between October 14th and 15th, 2019.

Mr Lacey told his counsel, Dominic McGinn SC, he has five children and works in Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council’s parks department as a general operative.

On the night of the stabbing, he went to the Lough Inn in Loughlinstown to play darts. He said he was running late when leaving home and, without thinking, he grabbed his work jacket which had a folding knife he used for various jobs in the pocket.

Mr Lacey spent several hours in the pub, went to a takeaway and was walking home with a friend when he noticed “two guys coming out of the hedge”. He said the man he recognised as Mr Reddin pulled a balaclava over his face and was carrying a metal bat.

He said Mr Reddin “struck me on the head straight away” with the bat. He said he heard the bat falling from Mr Reddin’s hands as they scuffled.

‘Came lunging’

Mr Lacey said he then took the knife from his pocket, opened it and shouted “this has nothing to do with us”. He said Mr Reddin retrieved the bat and “came lunging at me” with it.

“The two of us connected and the two of us fell on the ground again,” he said.

Under cross-examination Mr Lacey denied to Róisín Lacey SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), that he was carrying the knife because he was “expecting trouble”.

Ms Lacey played CCTV footage of Mr Lacey and his friend walking just moments before the encounter in which she said Mr Lacey can be seen putting his hand in his jacket pocket after turning his head towards where Mr Reddin was waiting for him.

‘Security check’

He denied that he “knew there was something coming” and said he was doing a “security check” to make sure the knife was still in his pocket.

He denied that in the immediate aftermath he knew Mr Reddin was dead and phoned his brother and the second man, who Ms Lacey said were involved in the feud, to tell them that he had killed Mr Reddin.

He also denied asking his friend what he should say to gardaí and denied that his friend told him to lie and say he had been attacked by men with knives and batons.

The trial continues.