A NORTH Belfast man on trial for murder has pointed the finger of blame at his co-accused and claimed he didn't "tell the truth" to police in the aftermath.
Louis Maguire and Christopher Power are both standing trial at Belfast Crown Court for the murder of Ardoyne man Eamonn Ferguson. The 35-year old victim was repeatedly hit over the head with a claw hammer in Maguire's home in March 2014.
As the trial entered its fourth week, Maguire took to the witness stand where he denied involvement in the fatal hammer attack. Instead, he told the jury that co-accused Power was the one who killed Mr Ferguson.
Since March 2014, Maguire has made the case that he and Power left Mr Ferguson in his Ardoyne Place home while they went for cigarettes and found him lying dead in a pool of blood when they returned found him dead.
However, under questioning from his barrister Sam Steen, the 28-year old claimed yesterday for the first time that his 33-year old co-accused, of no fixed abode and who is originally from Co Offlay, murdered Mr Ferguson single-handedly.
Maguire now says that he, Power and Mr Ferguson had returned to his house on Friday March 14, and that Power and Mr Ferguson got into an argument about missing money.
Maguire said that in the early hours of the following morning, as Mr Ferguson was trying to sleep, Power suddenly grabbed a hammer which was on the floor.
He said that as he walked towards the kitchen to get a bottle of cider, he "became aware of a sudden movement to which I turned around to see what was going on, and Mr Power was hitting Eamonn Ferguson on the head with a hammer."
Maguire said he saw Power struck Mr Ferguson two or three times, but said he "turned away, I couldn't watch it."
During questioning, Maguire said the victim didn't defend himself, and also said his blood was on his jacket, which prompted him to later burn the coat, along with the jeans Power was wearing during the attack.
When asked by Mr Steen what he did in the direct aftermath of the murder, Maguire said he was in fear, adding "I didn't know if I was going to be next, or what was going on."
Maguire said he wiped the hammer for Power's prints, and also burned blood-stained clothing - which he said was in a bid to protect Power. He described himself, at that point, as "unstable" and "in a world of mixed emotions".
The accused accepted that both before and after his arrest, he lied to police. When asked why, Maguire replied: "Out of fear. My head was all over the place in the police station. With my upbringing, I was also told not to tell the police anything. I sobered up and stayed quiet."
Under cross-examination by Power's barrister Gavan Duffy QC, Maguire rejected claims he was making up more lies.
