Joseph Hillen pleads not guilty to murder of taxi driver Martin Mulligan

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Joseph Hillen has pleaded not guilty to the murder of taxi driver Martin Mulligan at the Central Criminal Court. The alleged killing took place at Carnmore, Balriggan, Dundalk, on 28 September 2015. The proceedings were reported on 4 October 2018.

Mr Hillen accepts that he inflicted the fatal knife wounds but told gardaí he acted to protect himself. The trial had previously heard that he told gardaí Mr Mulligan pulled a knife on him.

Mr Mulligan’s widow, Grainne Mulligan, denied that her husband kept a kitchen knife in his taxi. She said he kept a bar on the floor of the taxi for protection and a small Swiss Army knife in the car. She agreed under cross-examination that he was a “formidable” man who would not back down, and said he kept the bar as a weapon if needed.

Defence counsel Brendan Grehan SC put it to her that she had previously told gardaí her husband kept a small kitchen knife in the taxi. She accepted that, in another statement about two weeks later, she said she had been mistaken and that he kept it in his coal lorry. She denied changing her account because it would help the accused’s claim that Mr Mulligan produced the knife.

The trial continued before a jury and Justice Eileen Creedon.