I saw balaclavas and panicked, court hears

I saw balaclavas and panicked, court hears

9 March 2022

A CROSSGAR man on trial for the murder of Eddie Meenan in Londonderry has blamed his co-accused on the fatal stabbing.

Ryan Walters (22), from Station Park, told a court last week that while he admitted he was involved in an attack on the man, he went inside a house when the stabbing took place.

Mr Meenan, who was 52, was stabbed 42 times in the garden of a house in Creggan Street in November 2018. His near naked body was dumped in a nearby alley.

Walters told Londonderry Crown Court, sitting in Belfast, that he believed when Mr Meenan and his friend, Mr Billy McConnell, were from the IRA when they approached the back door of the house wearing balaclavas.

He also claimed that after being asked by his co-accused, Sean Rodgers (34), to get him a knife, he went inside because he “didn’t want to watch someone being stabbed”.

Walters is one of three men accused of the murder of Mr Meenan and the assault on Mr McConnell. 

Derek William Creswell (29) of Kings Lane, Ballykelly, has already pleaded guilty to murder, after changing his plea.

Rodgers (34), who was living in a hostel in the city at the time of the murder, told the court he “wanted to come clean and tell the truth” about his involvement “for the sake of the family”.

Walters initially told his defence QC John Kearney he’d been drinking with his co-accused in the kitchen of the house when, “out of the corner of my eyes I saw two men standing at the door wearing balaclavas”.

Asked for his reaction, he claimed “I just seen the balaclavas and panicked”, although he did not see either man with any weapon.

He further claimed that “Sean just said ‘what’ then launched himself at the back door. Derek was standing behind him. I was behind Derek.”

He continued: “Derry was full of paramilitaries and that was the first thing that come to my mind,” he said. “I was panicked. I’d never seen anything like that before in my life.”

He denied any suggestion he had “told or directed” either of the co-accused to go outside and repeated that Rodgers was first out the door.

Maintaining he didn’t join in the attack, or arm himself, Walters claimed: “I tried to push one of them off him, but they were too big for me to move.”

Walters claimed Rodgers asked him to get a knife from the kitchen, but he opted to say inside as “I had it in my mind that he was going to stab him”.

The day before Walters gave evidence, Rodgers admitted for the first time that he attacked Meenan and apologised to the victim’s family.

He said: “At the start I was lying and trying to cover up. Now I just want to come clean and tell the court that I was involved in what happened. For the family’s sake, I want them to have closure.”

He said that Walters and Creswell first attacked Mr McConnell, who managed to flee, then “joined in” on the assault of Mr Meenan.

The trial continues.