Meenan murder trial: Co-accused tells court he was asked to get a knife

One of the men charged with the murder of Edward Meenan in Derry in November 2018, Ryan Walters, has told the jury that the other accused, Sean Rodgers, asked him to get a knife after Mr Meenan had been assaulted in the backyard of a house in Creggan Street.

Sean Rodgers (34) of no fixed abode and Ryan Walters (22) with an address in Crossgar are charged with Edward Meenan's murder on November 25, 2018.

They are also charged with assaulting William McConnell on the same date.

A third man Derek Creswell (29) of King's Lane in Ballykelly has already pleaded guilty.

Today Walters was giving evidence and he told the jury how he saw 'out of the corner of
my eye two men standing at the door wearing balaclavas.'

The defendant said he panicked as he 'had never seen anything like that before.'

When he was asked what he thought was happening he replied 'Derry is full of paramilitaries that was the first thing came to my mind.'

Walters said the defendant Rodgers 'launched himself at the back door' followed by Cresswell who he said 'grabbed a bat out of the bag at the back door.'

The jury heard that Walters and Cresswell 'engaged' William McConnell while Rodgers engaged Edward Meenan.
Walters said Cresswell hit William McConnell several times with the bat before the injured man made off.

The jury was told that Cresswell then joined Rodgers in assaulting Mr Meenan and that the two were 'punching, kicking and stamping' on the man.

Meenan murder: Defendant tells court he didn't want to get involved

He claimed Cresswell used the bat to beat Mr Meenan about the knees and that at one point Sean Rodgers asked himself or Cresswell to get him a knife.

Walters said he was 'frightened' of Rodgers and had tried to intervene but had not been able to stop the attack.

The jury was told Walters was 'frightened' of Rodgers and 'didn't want to get on the wrong side of him.'

Yesterday, Mr Rodgers  who is now defending himself after the withdrawal of his legal team, was being cross examined by John Kearney QC for the other accused Walters.

He was asked about the incident in 2008 when a youth was stabbed in the neck and accepted he had done it and pleaded guilty but claimed he had been attacked.

Mr Kearney put it to him that he had 'literally cut a 16-year-old' s throat' and he was forensically linked to this crime and that was why he burnt his clothes after the death of Edward Meenan.

He suggested to Rodgers 'you are forensically aware' to which the defendant replied 'don't think so.'

Mr Kearney said 'you learned your lesson of the dangers of forensic evidence' and this was denied.

Rodgers was asked where the knife had come from and he answered 'someone must have grabbed it.'

He added that he could not tell who stabbed Edward Meenan and said 'I didn't see who stabbed him.'

The defendant said he had punched and kicked the dead man but had not used any weapon.

Rodgers was then questioned by the prosecution Liam McCollum QC and he accepted that this was 'a brutal and ferocious' murder.

He was asked where his concern for the Meenan family just after the incident when he denied everything to police.
Rodgers said at the time his head 'was all over the place'.

He said that he had it 'in his head' to take a different approach to his defence but his legal team disagreed.

Mr McCollum suggested that there had been a long gap when he could have shown his concerns for the family but he did not.

The prosecutor suggested that Rodgers had changed his story and was out 'to save your skin' and this was denied.

Rodgers was asked was three people attacking one person self-defence and said he thought there could have been more people.

He said he never meant to do that.

Mr Rodgers had earlier told the trial that when he saw two masked men he thought 'it was the' RA' when questioned by Judge Donna McColgan about the events of November 25, 2018.

He said he had been drinking with Derek Creswell and Sinead White and later the woman had left and himself and Cresswell went to Creggan Street where they met up with the accused Walters.

The defendant said that he saw two masked men in the back yard and 'freaked out' and ran out.

Rodgers said he received a punch in the eye from the men and then started fighting just using his hand.

He claimed he attacked Edward Meenan and the other two attacked William McConnell and when McConnell left they joined him in the assault on Meenan.

Rodgers said he was 'terrified' and then he saw Walters using a baseball bat on Edward Meenan.

The court heard Rodgers say 'somebody stabbed him I don't know which one stabbed him.'

After that Rodgers said 'they' starting taking the victim's clothes off and he 'didn't know what that was about.'

The defendant said he thought it was the IRA and didn't know it was Edward Meenan until his mask was taken off.

He said he 'got on well with him' and didn't know why the victim would have come to Sinead White's house but didn't believe he was coming to scare her.

Rodgers said that 'one of them dragged the body out of the yard' and then Walters washed the baseball bat and put the clothes in a bag.

After they went to Rodgers' mother's house 'someone said we need to light a fire' and they did so.

Rodgers said he burnt the dead man's clothes and then some of his own.

He said he had been 'caught off guard' and had burnt his clothes 'out of panic'.

Rodgers told Judge McColgan 'I am really sorry for the victim's family I do feel for the family.'

He said he acted in self defence and was in 'fight or flight' mode and never used any weapon.

Under cross examination by John Kearney QC for Walters Rodgers was asked had he called the other accused 'a rat' and he said he had as he was angry at lies being told about him.

He was asked if he had threatened Walters and he denied this.

The trial continues.