Hi °C | Lo °C Two men accused of butchering a father to death were named by his wife as his alleged killers within hours of his bloody end, a jury heard has heard.
Giving evidence at Belfast Crown Court, Constable Sarah McGrath told the jury that when she arrived at the Mongan household on Fallswater Street in the west of the city “it was chaos, really”, with constant screaming coming from inside the house.
The officer said once inside she saw Julia Mongan “hysterically screaming, covered in blood” and noticed that she was “heavily pregnant”.
“She was constantly saying over and over again ‘please don't die John, please don't die', screaming and crying it, said Constable McGrath, adding that she asked Mrs Mongan if she recognised any of the killers.
“She stated that yes, she did. She stated that she recognised them by their voices and she had known them all her life,” said the officer.
In the dock denying the murder of 30-year-old John Mongan in the early hours of February 7 last year were 34-year-old Christopher Stokes, from the Glengalia area of Derry, Edward Gabriel Stokes (38) from Cornfields, also Derry, and a 16-year-old boy who cannot be identified because of his age.
It is the Crown case that after smashing their way into the house the gang hacked and beat the father-of-two to death with an axe, a sword and a baseball bat in front of his wife and seven-year-old daughter before speeding off in an Isuzu Trooper 4x4 which was later found burnt out close to Kesh in Co Fermanagh.
But under cross-examination from defence QC Philip Magee, acting on behalf of Christopher Stokes, Constable McGrath said she could not remember if Mrs Mongan had told her she could not see the faces of her husband's killers.
Previously, Mrs Mongan has told the jury she saw the “grinning” faces of the alleged killers as they battered her husband, claiming they were wearing hats and not balaclavas.
The trial continues.
