IRISH ONE-PUNCH VICTIM 'WAS RACIALLY ABUSIVE'

AN IRISHMAN who died in one-punch tragedy on St Patrick's Day in Boston was accused of racially abusing the man who struck him, a court has heard.

- BY SUSAN ZALKIND

CLAIMS Barry Whelan

Dublin-born Barry Whelan, 46, was fatally injured in the incident almost three years ago.

Yesterday, a nightclub bouncer went on trial accused of the carpenter's manslaughter.

A Boston jury was told Mr Whelan hurled racial epitaphs before he was struck, fell, and fatally cracked open his head on St Patrick's Day.

“Of course, it is not OK to say the N-word. It is also not OK to take the law into your own hands," Assistant District Attorney Jillian Bannister told jurors at Boston's Suffolk County Courthouse.