HOURS BEFORE HE was fatally stabbed in the neck, a Dublin man told his friend: “If you are going to stab me, stab me now,” a murder trial has heard.

The trial has also heard the defendant Joseph Lawlor (39) and the deceased Michael Ryan were recorded “slagging each other off”, with Lawlor calling the other man a “snitch”, a “rat” and a “supergrass”.

Later, Lawlor asked Michael Ryan: “Who do you think is going to kill who? I’m your mate… I love you too as a friend and a best friend.”

Joseph Lawlor, of Hampton Wood Road in Finglas, Dublin 11 has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Michael Ryan (51) in a carpark to the back of the accused man’s home on June 20, 2024.

The jury has previously heard that Lawlor and Michael Ryan were drinking together in the accused man’s home throughout the day and had their first physical altercation at 8.30pm.

Following a second altercation just after 9.30pm, Michael Ryan left in his car but was arrested almost immediately for drink driving.

Having been processed and released from custody, Michael Ryan returned to Lawlor’s home where the fatal encounter happened.

Between the first two altercations, one of Lawlor’s neighbours used his mobile phone to make an audio recording of interactions between the accused, deceased and four other people who had gathered in Lawlor’s home.

Garda Shane Gallagher today told Kevin White SC, prosecuting, that he spent more than 20 hours listening to the four-minute recording and created a transcript of the parts of the conversation he could understand.

Gallagher said Lawlor could be heard at one point saying to someone: “This is your fifth chance, you f**king w**ker. Get up and I’ll stab you with your own knife straight into your neck.”

A female voice shouted, “stop it Joey,” before Michael Ryan was heard saying: “What are you trying to stab me with bro? Stab me bro.”

Lawlor replied: “No, I love you too f**king much.”

Gallagher said Lawlor later said: “My children are gone already over that f**king snitch” and “he is a f**king rat… he has ratted on everybody.”

Michael Ryan replied: “I saved your life,” to which Lawlor said: “You are a f**king supergrass… you’re a pr**k.”

Michael Ryan announced that he was leaving and said: “If you are going to stab me, stab me now,” while a female voice shouted: “Stop lads, please.”

Lawlor said: “He is after ratting on all his best mates, f**king snitch. I have proof as well.”

Under cross-examination, Gallagher agreed with Seamus Clarke SC, defending, that neither man had a knife in the fight that immediately followed the recorded conversation.

The garda further agreed that towards the end, the two men were “slagging each other off and name calling” with Michael Ryan telling Lawlor: “You won’t see me coming,” and Lawlor replying: “Who would see you coming, you midget.”

Gallagher agreed that there appeared to be a “recurring theme” in the conversation of Lawlor calling Michael Ryan “a rat, a super rat, a supergrass and a snitch”.

Crime scene examiner Detective Garda Ronan Lawlor told White that he found a rucksack outside Joseph Lawlor’s home, close to where Michael Ryan had suffered the fatal injury. In one of the side pockets, he found €3,155 in cash. On the ground nearby, he also found Michael Ryan’s driving licence on top of a wallet containing €535.

Inside Joseph Lawlor’s house, Garda Lawlor found a bloodstained, black handled bread knife sitting on a couch in the living room.

Garda Lawlor showed the knife to the jury and said this was the knife used to stab Michael Ryan.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McGrath and a jury.