Witness heard 'awful noise' near Limerick flat on night of fatal attack

A witness has told the trial of a man, charged with murdering his flatmate, that he heard ‘an awful noise’ from their house on the night of the alleged crime.

William Neville was giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court this Wednesday morning.

Arnis Labunskis, aged 56, with an address at Wolfe Tone Street, Limerick city, denies murdering 39-year-old Dainius Burba at their flat there on April 21 or April 22, 2015. 

Mr Neville testified that he lived on nearby Bowman Street and went to Bobby Byrne’s Bar on Wolfe Tone Street for two drinks on the night of the 21st.

“The only thing I noticed when I was coming home, there was an awful noise from the house across the road,” he recalled. “I heard this commotion, a verbal argument.”

He said it was about 12.30am when he heard the male voices. He explained that the noise continued as he walked home.

The jury spent the rest of the morning watching CCTV footage of the area from the early hours of that morning.

The jurors were told they could see an individual walking down Wolfe Tone Street shortly before 5am. The person had a white item, similar to a bag.

“It’s lifted up and seems to be deposited into a wheelie bin,” said Detective Garda Nick Jones.

He also pointed out the movement of an individual and a car earlier that morning, providing their routes on an accompanying map.

The jury had heard that, when interviewed, the accused told gardai he had arrived home to find his flatmate with serious injuries and was ‘alarmed’ that intruders might have caused them.

However, Anthony Sammon SC, prosecuting, said he had earlier told his daughter that he had fought with the deceased.

The trial continues on Thursday before Ms Justice Deirdre McCarthy and a jury of three women and nine men.

It’s expected to last until the end of next week.