Aaron Connolly found guilty of murder of teenager Cameron Reilly

A 23-year-old man has been found guilty of the murder of teenager Cameron Reilly who was found dead in a field in Dunleer, County Louth in May 2018.

The Central Criminal Court jury of seven women and five men returned a unanimous verdict on Thursday afternoon on what was their third day of deliberations in the case.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt thanked the jury for their hard work, adding “these are terribly difficult matters”.

The jury had been deliberating for a total of 10 hours and 39 minutes.

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Aaron Connolly, Willistown, Drumcar had pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Reilly (18) at Shamrock Hill, Dunleer on May 26th, 2018.

DKIT student Cameron Reilly had been out socialising with friends on the night of May 25th, 2018 at a field just outside the town.

Friends of Mr Reilly told the trial a group of around 15 young people gathered in the field on the night and alcohol and cannabis were consumed by some. The deceased’s best friend told the court Mr Reilly never took drugs. The group then went to a local takeaway to get food shortly after midnight.

The teenager’s body was found in the field at Shamrock Hill by a man out walking his dog the following morning, May 26th, 2018.

Chief State Pathologist Linda Mulligan told the jury Mr Reilly’s cause of death was asphyxia due to external pressure on the neck with no other contributing factors.

During the trial, the court heard that in his initial statement to gardaí, Connolly said he and Mr Reilly went in different directions at the end of the night and after the pair parted, he “never looked back” to see which way Cameron went.

Evidence was heard from Garda Sergeant Paul Sweeney, based at Drogheda Garda Station in 2018, who told the court Connolly said he left Mr Reilly at the driveway into the Beechwood estate in Dunleer and after leaving the teenager he got home at 1.40am and did not meet anyone on the walk home.

Sgt Sweeney said when it was put to the accused that there was a missing hour unaccounted for in his statement and he was asked where he went for that hour, Connolly told them he “went to get a bag of weed”.

Connolly later said he did not know what he did for that hour after leaving Mr Reilly. “I know I didn’t kill him,” he said. “I’d know if I killed someone.”

He then told gardaí: “That hour that I’m missing, I can’t remember what I was doing. The reason I don’t remember is I was taking drugs.”

Connolly said he took two grammes of cocaine and half a gramme of MDMA and told gardaí this would sometimes cause him to black out.

The jury also heard that Connolly denied that anything sexual happened between him and Mr Reilly and told gardaí that he was “straight”.

However, during the trial, lawyers for Connolly told the court the accused had oral sex with Mr Reilly on the night he was killed.

Counsel for the defence, Michael Bowman SC made a proof by formal admission to the court on behalf of Aaron Connolly.

Mr Bowman said that there had been sexual contact between Connolly and Mr Reilly on the night of the murder. He said that Connolly performed oral sex on Cameron Reilly and when he left, Mr Reilly was still alive and standing up.

Forensic scientist Doctor Clara Boland, gave evidence that an immunological test on a penile swab of Mr Reilly revealed human saliva that was a mixture of two people, the major sample being Mr Reilly’s own and the minor being an incomplete profile that matched Connolly’s DNA.

Friends of Mr Reilly gave evidence to the trial that the teenager had confided in them that he was bisexual shortly before his death.

[ Long read: How Aaron Connolly’s lies unravelled to reveal Cameron Reilly’s killer ]

In her evidence to the court, Dr Mulligan said during the postmortem conducted on May 26th, 2018, she found evidence of external injury to Mr Reilly’s neck in the form of abrasions and bruising and there was also evidence of deep bruising around the neck and the hyoid bone. “All of these features are in keeping with the application of external pressure on the neck. This was the cause of death,” she said.

There were no obvious ligature marks or circular bruises identified, Dr Mulligan said, and the injuries sustained were more in keeping with a chokehold or the application of a rough surface implement to the neck.

In his closing statement to the jury, prosecuting counsel Dean Kelly SC contended Connolly had “lied from the beginning of this investigation to the end” because he murdered his friend.

Mr Kelly said in a sense this case was about lies and about science. He said lies are the subject of “grey areas” but science tells the truth.

However, in his closing statement to the jury, Mr Bowman, defending, said “strategic lies” were told by several young people who were there on the night. He said people had lied about drug and alcohol use in a murder trial because they were afraid.

Mr Bowman told the jury: “The law says the mere fact that the defendant lies is not evidence enough. They may lie out of panic and confusion; they may lie because they’re afraid for all sorts of reasons.”

Mr Justice Hunt remanded Connolly on continuing bail with strict conditions until next Tuesday, December 20th, when he will sentence him to the mandatory term of life imprisonment.