Robbie Walsh pleads not guilty to murder at Central Criminal Court

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

Robbie Walsh pleaded not guilty to murdering Karl Haugh in the Marian Estate in Kilkee, Co Clare, on 6 August 2017. The proceedings were reported on 6 February 2019. The trial was continuing before Ms Justice Carmel Stewart and a Central Criminal Court jury.

On 6 February, Haugh’s cousin Sam Lucey told the jury that he and Haugh had taken golf clubs to confront Walsh and two of his cousins. Lucey said he also took a knife from his kitchen, which fell from his pocket during the encounter. Under cross-examination, he accepted that the fatal knife came from his kitchen and that Walsh had not brought it to the scene. He said he did not know whether Walsh had stabbed Haugh.

Conor Murphy said Mitchell Walsh had a knife while Clinton Walsh and Robbie Walsh had bars or pipes. Under cross-examination, Murphy accepted that he had not seen Robbie Walsh with a knife and said he did not see him stab Haugh.

Garda Robert Wilson told the court that Walsh sent a text at approximately 7am after the incident saying Haugh had been stabbed “by me”. In another text to the same person, Walsh said: “10 of them jumped one of the boys so we all went back together. He got it in his lung with his own knife”. Lucey denied that Haugh had a knife during the encounter.

Opening the prosecution case on 4 February 2019, Patrick Gageby SC alleged that Walsh stabbed Haugh in the back during the altercation. He said Walsh was arrested the following morning, admitted stabbing Haugh and expressed remorse, and that his admissions and remorse continued through interviews.