A second man has been found guilty of the murder of a man who was bludgeoned to death and dumped in scrub land following a row over the robbery and theft of drugs and cash in Cork City.
Luke Taylor (27), formerly of Cherry Lawn, Blackrock, Cork, had denied the murder of Kieran Quilligan (47) on a date unknown between September 1st, 2023, and January 29th, 2024, when he was arraigned at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork earlier this month.
On Friday afternoon, the jury of 10 men and two women returned after five hours and 44 minutes of deliberations and found Taylor guilty of the murder of Mr Quilligan, whose skeletal remains were found five months after he was murdered by Taylor and co-accused Niall Long.
Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford remanded both Taylor and Long, formerly of St Michael’s Close, Mahon, Cork, in custody for sentence on October 29th when the court will hear victim impact statements from the Quiligan family. Long was convicted on Thursday of the murder.
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During the trial, the jury heard Mr Quilligan’s murder had its origins in an incident where he and another man robbed Long of drugs and cash in Cork City on September 1st, 2023. Mr Quilligan disappeared later that day.
The deceased man’s partner Colette O’Driscoll said the last time she saw her partner was when he left their apartment at Riverview on Anderson’s Quay in Cork City centre, accompanied by Taylor, shortly before 9pm on the night of September 1st, 2023.
When he failed to return home, she reported him missing to An Garda Síochána three days later on September 4th.
She said she reported Mr Quilligan’s disappearance because she was starting to hear rumours. When she met Luke Taylor in town some days later he said he didn’t know what happened to Mr Quilligan, as he had left him at Morrison’s Island on September 1st.
The jury heard gardaí tracked Mr Quilligan on CCTV walking with Taylor up the quays in Cork City to St Finbar’s Place. He went up some steps near St Fin Barre’s Cathedral but there was no sign of him ever emerging at the top of the steps on to Fort Street.
They heard evidence a white Toyota Rav 4, registered to Long’s mother Janice, was seen entering Fort Street and reversing into the steps at the top of St Finbarr’s Place. It left the area and drove to Little Island in east Cork.
They were shown CCTV footage of the same vehicle calling to the Rochestown Park Hotel in Cork on September 4th, where Taylor got in.It again headed towards Rostellan in east Cork where Mr Quilligan’s skeletal remains were found on January 29th, 2024.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster said she was unable to say exactly when Mr Quilligan had died or give a precise cause of death, due to the length of time between his death and the postmortem which had resulted in the decay and disappearance of all soft tissue and organs.
Dr Bolster said it was clear Mr Quilligan had been the victim of a serious assault, as he had suffered numerous injuries, including fractures of the temporal bone, parietal bone and mandible or jawbone in the head as well as fractures to several ribs, leg bones and hand bones. She said several of the fractures suggested a blow with a blunt instrument like a hammer.
Dr Sarah Fleming of Forensic Science Ireland said blood stains found in the boot of the Toyota Rav 4 provided a DNA match with Mr Quilligan.
