A night out ended in death on the streets

A night out ended in death on the streets

27 June 2012 - by BY PAUL SYMINGTON

JUST before 1am on February 2, 2011, a CCTV camera in Newcastle recorded two men passing each other in Main Street.

Paul Owens and David Kenneway did not speak, glance or acknowledge each other in any way and looked to all the world as strangers going about their business.

But by 1.07am Owens lay dying on Bryansford Road from a stab wound to the chest. He had been stabbed by David Kenneway.

The events leading up to the tragic death of 18 year-old Paul Owens were outlined in Court 13 of the Laganside court complex in Belfast last week. Kenneway has admitted the murder of Owens and received a life sentence and the court hearing was the start of a process to determine the minimum amount of time he should spend in prison. It was also the first time any details have been given about the hours leading up to the murder.

Twenty eight year-old Kenneway, a tall dark haired man who is originally from Newry, wore an open necked purple shirt and dark grey suit. He has a long list of criminal convictions, starting when he was 17, and which includes robbery and possession of offensive weapons, including knives and an iron bar.

He shared the glass-fronted dock with his former girlfriend, 21 year-old Lynsey Cahoon. Blond haired Cahoon, a single mum and former hairdresser, was in court to be sentenced for aiding and abetting Kenneway after he committed the murder. She has a clear record.

During the two hour court hearing the two did not exchange so much as a glance, both sitting emotionless separated by a burly prison officer.

Behind them in the public gallery, which is shielded from the body of the court by bullet proof glass, sat various sets of relatives and friends. To the left were around 20 members of Paul Owens’ family and on the opposite side sat five female relatives of Cahoon who all had similar very light blond hair. Separating them were a handful of Kenneway’s family.

Outlining the terrible events of that Saturday night was prosecution barrister, Frank O’Donoghue, QC, a Newcastle-born man who well knew the topography of the murder scene.

Mr. O’Donoghue outlined how two young men, whose lives would be forever changed on that night, spent their final few hours before being brought together for a few seconds of shocking violence.

Owens went into Newcastle town centre at around 4pm on Friday afternoon, meeting up with a friend.. They brought drink in an off licence and went to a park bench with other friends to drink the carry out.

“There was nothing of an untoward nature at that time,” said Mr. O’Donoghue.

At around 10pm the group went to the nearby Coast night club and stayed inside until 11.45pm when Owens was approached by security staff who told him he had been barred and should not have been in the club. The group left at 11.47pm.

The young men milled around outside for around 30 minutes before going up Main Street where their movements were caught by CCTV as they walked along the street and then back again to Donard car park at 12.49am.

They remained at the entrance to the car park, near the archway and beside what was then the Artichoke restaurant.

Meanwhile Kenneway was in a nearby apartment at 87a Main Street, just behind the Avoca Hotel, where he lived with Cahoon and her young child.

With them were another couple, Aine O’Sullivan and Ryan Hillyard, and the four had spent the evening drinking.

During the evening Kenneway showed Hillyard a knife which he said he often carried for his own protection.

Just before 1am Cahoon and O’Sullivan left the apartment and were seen by the CCTV walking towards the Coast nightclub to meet other girls they had been texting. They did not get into the nightclub but hung around outside.

One minute after the girls left the apartment, Kenneway followed and met them outside Coast. Kenneway and Cahoon had a row and afterwards Kenneway ran back through the car park towards the apartment.

As he passed Mr. Owens and three other youths, an insulting comment was shouted at Kenneway, but not by Mr. Owens.

Kenneway spent just 38 seconds in the flat and it was this fleeting moment in the night’s events which would have formed the most crucial point of the case had Kenneway denied murder and opted for a trial.

The prosecution claim Kenneway went to the flat to get the knife, showing he intended to inflict injury on someone — the premeditation which distinguishes between murder and manslaughter.

The defence claimed Kenneway already had the knife in his possession and had gone back to the apartment to get cigarettes for the two girls who were stranded outside the nightclub.

It was as Kenneway made his journey to the apartment that the CCTV caught him passing Mr. Owens.

Events then moved very quickly.

The group of youths left the car park entrance and went to back to the rear of the nightclub where they were standing when Kenneway returned. A running scuffle developed between Kenneway and the group before Owens punched Kenneway, knocking him to the ground.

Kenneway managed to get up and produced the knife. “The knife fell to the ground at that point,” said Mr. O’Donoghue. “There is evidence that he brandished it towards his attackers but there is no evidence that he intended to use it to inflict injuries on anyone

Kenneway ended up on the ground beside recycling bins being violently assaulted before being rescued by one of the group, Mervyn Kelly, who helped him out of the car park and onto Bryansford Road.

A taxi was waiting to pick up a fare outside the Anchor Bar and Mr. Kelly put a dazed Kenneway into the front seat and asked the driver to take him away from the area. The taxi driver refused and Kenneway got out and sat on a low wall opposite the bar.

Owens appeared and Mr. Kelly went towards him with his arms outstretched appealing for him to leave Kenneway alone but he was brushed aside.

“There appears to be little doubt that Paul Owens none Kenneway had the knife,” Mr. O’Donoghue told the court. “However, he had said that Kenneway would not use it.

“Further scuffles broke out between Kenneway and Owens and in the course of the scuffle Kenneway produced the knife and fatally stabbed the deceased,” said Mr. O’Donoghue.

Owens suffered three wounds, including the stab to the chest which killed him. He was rushed to hospital but was pronounced dead at 2.33am.

In the confusion after the stabbing Kenneway escaped by running through the grounds of the nearby Baptist Church and into his apartment. About an hour later he left to dump various items of clothing in litter bins around the town before returning to the apartment.

Cahoon came on the scene of the murder moments after Kenneway fled. A police sergeant told the court she was hysterical, claiming Owens was her friend and that she had tried to stem the flow of blood.

Crucially, she told police the assailant had run off into Donard Park, the opposite direction to the escape route used by Kenneway to flee the scene. Cahoon then disappeared from the scene.

By 5am police had a clearer picture of the events leading up to the murder and they raided Kenneway and Cahoon’s apartment, finding the two asleep in the lounge. They discovered a hoodie, trainers and boxer shorts in the washing machine but also found blood in the bathroom and in the kitchen.

Cahoon admitted quickly to police he role in the incident, explaining she took the knife and cleaned it before returning it to the knife block in her kitchen.

Kenneway was interviewed six times and the only words he uttered were “no comment.” However, on the seventh interview the next day he admitted having the knife and using it to kill Owens. He claimed he did not realise he had it in his hand and only realised when Owens fell to the ground having been stabbed.

At the end of the final interview, just as a detective was about to switch off the tape recorder, the enormity of the situation seemed to hit Kenneway. He said quietly, “I’m sorry.”

“For what,” said the detective.

“I’m sorry for what I did. I’m sorry for stabbing Paul Owens.”