A MURDERED pensioner may have been sexually assaulted in an attempt to throw detectives off the scent of her alleged killer, the High Court in Belfast heard yesterday.
Prosecutors revealed the possible motive for an attack on Máire Rankin (81) in her home in Newry, Co Down, as the woman accused of her murder was granted bail.
Karen Walsh (42), a pharmacist and wife of a Dublin tax consultant, denies the charge of murder. She was ordered to put up money and assets totalling £60,000 as part of her release conditions.
Ms Rankin’s naked body was discovered on the bedroom floor of her Dublin Road property on Christmas Day by her brother- in-law. She had suffered head injuries and broken ribs.
Ms Walsh, a next-door neighbour of the victim, is alleged to have been the last person known to have gone into the property, the court was told. Crown counsel Philip Henry said she gave police three different times for when she was in Ms Rankin’s home late on Christmas Eve or early on Christmas morning.
It was claimed she brought a bottle of vodka and had also visited other neighbours. The court was told Ms Walsh provided varying reasons for bruising discovered on her arms, including carrying presents and an alleged incident at a hotel in Dublin.
Mr Henry said: “Police believe the scene in and around the deceased’s body had been cleaned. A clean-up operation took place prior to police arrival.”
The barrister confirmed indications of a sexual assault involving some type of smooth object were discovered during examinations of the body. “It is one line of inquiry that this was a potential attempt to throw the police off the scent of the applicant in terms of this investigation,” he said.
Mr Henry told how Ms Walsh made no comment when questioned by detectives and replied after caution: “I totally deny any involvement in the murder of Máire Rankin.”
Her accountant husband Richard Durkin was in court along with other relatives as the court heard that the couple, who have a two-year-old son, live Monday to Friday in the Berkeley Court Hotel in Dublin while another property they own in the city is rented out.
Opposing bail, Mr Henry said police were concerned about monitoring her if she returned to the Republic. “Feelings are running high in relation to this murder of an 81-year-old woman.”
Philip Magee SC, defending, stressed that his client absolutely denied any involvement in killing or assaulting the grandmother.
“On behalf of Karen Walsh, however Máire Rankin came to lose her life on Christmas Day, it was absolutely clear the circumstances of her death are an immense tragedy for her children, relations and friends.” He said Ms Walsh, who studied in Galway and the northeast of England, worked in a number of pharmacies before opening her own business near Grafton Street in central Dublin.
He told the court Ms Walsh accepted being in Ms Rankin’s home on Christmas Eve, bringing a card and bottle of vodka with her. “There’s no motive for the applicant to murder Máire Rankin or to harm her,” Mr Magee said.
“Police do not and have not suggested theft as a motive.”
Mr Justice Weatherup said the murder was a terrible tragedy with unanswered questions over who was involved and why.
He remarked how Ms Walsh’s background, with siblings involved in medicine, was not the usual scenario for people appearing before the court on such a charge.
Granting bail, he ordered her to provide a £10,000 cash surety and £50,000 in assets in Northern Ireland. She was directed to live in Dublin, to surrender her passport and she is banned from entering Newry apart from to report to police.