Eddie Meenan murder accused says he prays for him

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 to both charges.

Rodgers, who represents himself, made his closing address to the jury on Monday afternoon and, during it, said that, in the early hours of November 25, 2018, he had been having a drink when two masked men appeared at the back door of a property at Creggan Street.

He said he believed his ‘life was in danger’ due to the way they were dressed and this ‘scared the life out of me’.

Rodgers said they had not gone out looking for trouble and ‘we did not plan or mean anyone to lose their life.’

He repeated: ‘It was not my intention for anyone to die.’

Earlier, prosecutor Liam McCollum QC, in his closing address to the jury, said Edward Meenan had ‘been dumped like a piece of garbage’ after being attacked and having his legs broken. He was, he said, ‘utterly defenceless’.

He said the defendant Walters had made the case that he was at the scene but really didn’t participate. Mr McCollum remarked that, normally in a murder trial, there were three types of people: the victim, the attackers and the witnesses.

But, he said, in this case there was a fourth type: the observer.

He told the jury that Walters gave an account ‘trying to minimise his involvement and absolve him.’

He said all three defendants were active participants in the attacks on Mr Meenan and Mr McConnell.

Mr McCollum advised the jury to ignore the ‘red herrings’ in the case and branded Walters’ ‘lies’ as ‘designed to distance himself.’

The jury was told the case rested on 11 pieces of circumstantial evidence and four pieces of direct evidence.

The final closing submission on behalf of Ryan Walters will take place on Tuesday.