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A teenager who was stabbed during a fight in a park in Dublin last year told a friend who came to help him that he believed he was going to die, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
The witness said that he ran towards Azzam Raguragui (18) when he saw that he had been injured during the fight, which followed a dispute between two groups of teenagers over a stolen bicycle.
“I was telling Azzam that I was going to make it and he was telling me that I was going to die,” the witness told prosecutor James Dwyer SC.
Azzam suffered five stab wounds during the riot and later died in hospital.
The 17-year-old defendant at trial, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty of the murder of Azzam in Finsbury Park, Dundrum on May 10, 2019.
The mother of the deceased broke down in court when the witness recounted her son’s last moments. Judge Paul McDermott asked the jury to leave and, when he later brought them back to court, told them that the deceased’s mother had become “extremely over-excited.” He said that cases of this type generate “real and understandable emotions especially for those who have suffered losses.”
The judge has explained that the court deals with matters clinically, which while appropriate, “brings its own effects and makes emotions skyrocket.” He asked the jury to put emotion aside, saying that while that may seem “distant or cold,” his job is to consider and analyze the facts in a dispassionate way.
Dispute
The 17-year-old defendant, who cannot be identified because he is a minor, pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty of the murder of Azzam Raguragui, 18, in Finsbury Park, Dundrum, Dublin 14 on May 10, 2019 The court has heard that a dispute broke out between two groups of teenagers following a dispute over a stolen bicycle. Mr. Raguragui suffered five stab wounds during the riot.
Earlier on Friday, the jury heard from another teenager who was involved in the fight at Finsbury Park. The witness said he was with Azzam and a group of friends in Dundrum. He said there had been a dispute with friends of the defendant over a stolen bicycle and later that night he was with his friends in Finsbury Park when the defendant and others approached. The two groups talked for a time, but then Mr. Raguragui and a member of the other group walked away from the main group. They were talking privately, he said, when the other boy “hit” Mr. Raguragui on the forehead. The witness said that a fight broke out and in the middle of the fight he saw Mr. Raguragui on the ground trying to kick the accused while the accused stabbed Mr. Raguragui.
He added: “He couldn’t do much because he was being stabbed, but he was backing up on his back and kicking his legs.” The fight ended suddenly and the witness ran to his friend and waited for an ambulance to arrive. He said, “It’s like you’re in a dream that didn’t really happen.” After the ambulance had left, he went to a local mosque, believing that Azzam would recover and they would laugh at all of this later. When he learned that night that Azzam was dead, he was “shocked.” “None of us thought that Azzam was going to die,” he said. “When we got the news, I was shocked. I couldn’t accept it. I didn’t want to accept it.”
During questioning, the witness denied a suggestion by Michael Bowman SC for the defense that he and his friends at the mosque agreed to say that the first blow was launched by a member of the defendant’s group. He insisted that the fight broke out after Azzam was hit.
The trial continues before Judge McDermott and a jury of six men and six women.
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