BLOODSTAINS matching the DNA of a man whose body was dumped on waste ground in Co Kerry two years ago were found in the boot of a car, a court was told yesterday.
Tom Creed, prosecuting, told the opening day of the trial of John Paul Walsh and Gillian Purcell that the State would produce evidence to show that blood found in the boot of a car in which they were travelling matched that of missing Cork man John McManus (25).
Mr Walsh (45) with an address at Cork Road, Mitchelstown, but originally from Carrigmore Park, Ballinlough, and Ms Purcell (34) from the Simon Shelter, Anderson’s Quay, Cork, both deny the murder of Mr McManus at a flat at Verdon Place, Wellington Road, Cork, between October 28th and November 7th, 2008.
Opening the State’s case at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork, Mr Creed told the jury of six men and six women that the State would present evidence that Mr Walsh and Ms Purcell were in the company of Mr McManus on the evening of October 30th, 2008.
The State would present evidence that there was a lot of loud music as well as banging and bashing coming from Mr McManus’s ground floor flat and that when Mr McManus’s mother was unable to contact him the next day, she became concerned and notified gardaí.
Mr Creed said the jury would also hear evidence that gardaí gained entry to Mr McManus’s flat on November 4th where they found blood marks on the walls but no sign of Mr McManus who was originally from Fitzgerald Place in Fermoy.
They would also hear how, two days later while on routine patrol in North Kerry, Garda Dan O’Connor noticed a car parked by the side of the road and saw Mr Walsh emerging from the bushes so he stopped and looked in and saw what he thought was a bundle of clothes.
Garda O’Connor checked the car and noticed it did not have an NCT certificate so he seized it from Mr Walsh who was accompanied in the vehicle by Ms Purcell, and when gardaí in Tralee examined the vehicle they found blood stains in the boot, said Mr Creed.
Mr Walsh said that he had been fishing and had put fish in the boot but when gardaí entered the incident into the Pulse system, they learned that gardaí in Cork were anxious to speak to Mr Walsh and Ms Purcell in relation to the disappearance of Mr McManus.
The jury would hear how gardaí returned to the scene near Ballyduff where Garda O’Connor had seen Mr Walsh emerge from bushes and when they searched the area, they found that the bundle of clothes turned out to be Mr McManus’s body, said Mr Creed.
A postmortem revealed that Mr McManus had suffered multiple bruisings, lacerations and a surface stab wound to the head.
The case continues.