A man accused of murdering his partner in Co Cork has told a jury he killed her despite previously telling the emergency services and gardaí that she died by suicide.

Adam Corcoran (31) denies the murder of Daena Walsh (27) at the apartment they shared in John Barry House, Connolly Street, Midleton, on August 2nd, 2024, and causing criminal damage by arson to the apartment on the same occasion.

Corcoran entered the witness box at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork on Monday. During the course of 30 minutes of cross-examination by prosecution counsel Donal O’Sullivan, he admitted, “Yes, I killed her,” and accepted it was not done in self-defence.

Asked why he was now saying he killed Walsh when he had told everybody else on the day and later during Garda interviews that she had killed herself, Corcoran replied: “That’s what I believed happened at the time.”

O’Sullivan reminded Corcoran that when he was questioned by gardaí on August 3rd, 2024, about what had happened, he told them: “I don’t f***ing know, I’ve nothing else to say to you.”

Corcoran said he had no recollection of saying those things to gardaí during the interview.

“I said [at interview] I didn’t kill her because at the time that was what I believed,” he said, adding that it had taken him until “months after” to remember what had happened.

He denied inventing a story to fit the facts of the case.

Corcoran told defence counsel Brendan Grehan he had known Daena Walsh for 10 years or so and they had two children together.

He said that in the fortnight before her death, they had been drinking and taking cocaine as well as prescription drugs including Xanax, Valium and benzodiazepines.

[ Man accused of Daena Walsh’s murder told gardaí he did not kill his ‘soul mate’Opens in new window ]

He said they had been awake all night after taking cocaine and benzodiazepines and were planning to go into Cork city on the afternoon of August 2nd, 2024, to buy more benzodiazepines and look for an engagement ring. However, he said they had no change for the bus and returned to the apartment.

He said Walsh accused him of eyeing up a girl on the bus, but he assured her that he was not. When they returned to the flat, he said he went into the bedroom and rolled a joint and called out to Walsh, who was in the kitchen, but she did not answer.

“I went into the kitchen. Daena was by the cooker, she had the red-handled knife, she was self-harming,” he said. “She was cutting her [left] arm. She started shouting at me, saying that I had cheated on her. I tried to reassure her I had not. She was screaming she was going to end it all.

“She was hitting me and headbutting me and lashing out. I caught her by the wrists,” said Corcoran.

He said he went to grab the knife from Walsh but it fell, hitting her first in the face and then on the arm. He said that when he pulled it away from her arm, it had left a big wound.

[ Pathologist found 25 knife wounds on Daena Walsh’s body, murder trial toldOpens in new window ]

“I didn’t know where the knife was. I was lashing out at her. I got on top of her. I hit her twice in the chest. She stopped moving. I was out of breath. I was dizzy. I felt wet on my T-shirt, the red knife was in my hand. I took off my T-shirt and put it and the red knife in a bag.”

Corcoran told Grehan he could not remember how Walsh ended up with the various injuries that she had. While admitting he must have caused some of them, the accused said he never had any intention to kill Walsh or cause her serious harm. He said he loved her “very much”.

Prosecution counsel asked Corcoran how exactly Walsh had ended up with 25 stab wounds, including to her face and left arm, which was almost amputated at the elbow.

He said it happened when he grabbed the knife from Walsh.

“I dropped the knife and it hit her face first and then when I caught it, it hit her arm in the swing of the catch. There was already a cut on her arm and when I pulled it out, the wound was much bigger.”

He denied that this version of events was “nonsense and lies”.

The jury previously heard evidence from State Pathologist Dr Yvonne McCartney, who said Walsh’s 25 knife wounds were caused by a blue sharp knife found in the apartment rather than a red serrated knife.

Corcoran said he never saw Walsh with the blue knife and did not know how it ended up with blood on the blade in a handbag in the apartment’s bedroom.

The case continues.