A pensioner who was tied up with electric flex during a burglary in her home died from a heart attack brought on by the stress and strain of the incident, a manslaughter trial was told yesterday.
Mr John Arundel from Gurranabraher, Cork, has pleaded not guilty to the unlawful killing of Mrs Margaret Murphy on August 1st, 1997 and to burglary at her home and stealing a number of items including £380 in coins. Declan Meehan from Gurranabraher has pleaded guilty to the burglary charge and not guilty to manslaughter.
Mr Ralph Sutton SC, prosecuting, told the jury that Mrs Murphy (73), from Barrett's Buildings in Cork, was seen by neighbours on the night of the burglary in good form. A few hours later she was discovered dead at the bottom of her stairs with the flex tied around her legs just above her knees.
Mr Sutton said Mrs Murphy and her family were involved in the sale of newspapers and she had lived in Barrett's Buildings most of her life. She sometimes sold people papers from her house and also sold them on the streets. Mrs Murphy was seen at her home up to about 8.30 p.m. on the night she died. She had chatted to neighbours and was in her usual good form, although she had been ill previously. She usually kept her door closed and sat looking out the downstairs front window.
She lived with her nephew who on the night of the burglary was at a wedding in west Cork.
After 9 p.m. a local lad on his way home looked through the glass in the door. The house had been "rifled" and money was missing, Mr Sutton said. "Rarely does it happen that circumstances of this seriousness take place in an area with so many people around but it did happen. It is an unfortunate and alarming situation," he added.
There was no suggestion that whatever took place in Mrs Murphy's home was done with the intention of killing her but she was assaulted and tied up. "As a result of that, taking her delicate heart condition into account, her heart was sent racing and she suffered a fatal heart attack," he said. Mrs Murphy, it was believed, died before the burglary of her home finished.
Mr Sutton said Declan Meehan admitted being in the house and carrying out the burglary with another person whom he did not name. Two fingerprints were discovered in the house, both of them belonging to Mr Arundel, he said. Ms Maureen Lowther, a neighbour of Mr Arundel, said she saw him on the night of August 1st. He had a cut on his face and blood on his shirt and he told her he had been in a fight.
The trial continues today.