Closing speeches have been heard in the trial of a man accused of murdering another man near a shopping centre in Longford.

Rihards Lavickis of Annaly Court in Longford denies murdering Akadiusz  Czajkowski at Townspark in November 2016.

25-year-old Rihards Lavickis has admitted to stabbing Arkadiusz or Arek Czajkowski but says he didn’t mean to kill him.

He claims the deceased chased him the night before the stabbing and he believed he had broken a window in his home.

He has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter but that was not accepted by the State.

The court has heard both the accused and the deceased were low level drugs dealers.

In his closing speech, the prosecuting barrister said that, on the afternoon of the stabbing, the accused had chased the deceased with his arm in the air holding a knife.

He said he then stabbed him three times and used extra force with the last stab wound.

While the defence barrister said his client was a self-confessed killer who had acted out of reaction to events in his life that had been ongoing for a number of months.

He said he wasn’t a cold blooded murderer.

The jurors are expected to begin their deliberations on Monday.