The Central Criminal Court heard yesterday that a Kilkenny mother-of-two was stabbed 35 times by an intruder, who left the blade of a knife in her scalp.
Three separate fires had been lit in the house before the killer left - one behind the couch in the living room, one beside the victim in the kitchen and one under the stairs.
Mr Mark Costigan (18), of Aylesbury, Kilkenny, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 36-year-old Ms Christine Quinn at her home on December 5th, 2002.
Mr Alex Owens SC, for the prosecution, said Ms Quinn lived at a house on Greenfields Road in the city with her two sons, Jason, an Army private, and Ronan, a schoolboy. Both she and her partner were separated from their spouses, and in the process of getting divorces.
Mr Owens told the jury that all the evidence showed the intruder intended to kill or seriously injure the deceased. The only issue to decide was whether Mr Costigan was that intruder. The prosecution offered a number of ways they intend to prove this was the case, including that later that day Mr Costigan went to Gamesworld, a 25-minute walk from the Quinn home. His right hand was concealed, and he tendered a bloody €50 note to buy a game.
The prosecution alleges the accused sustained a severe cut to his right hand during the attack.
On the first day of evidence, yesterday, Private Jason Quinn (21) told the court he went to work as normal at Stephen's Barracks, Kilkenny. As he returned home at about 4.45 p.m. he smelt smoke coming down the road. He also heard his dog barking, which he described as "strange, because he was normally kept indoors".
Mr Quinn said "he was sitting on the front doorstep, barking up at the door". He called the dog, who ran to him and "did a lap of me". This was also unusual, he said, as the dog usually jumped up on him.
At the back of the house Mr Quinn found smoke coming out the kitchen window and rang the fire brigade on his mobile phone. When he opened the patio door into the sitting room, "a big puff of smoke came out" and the curtains were burnt. It was completely dark.
He walked as far as the coffee table, where he was overcome with smoke and had to go back. He put his Army beret over his mouth and began again. This time he noticed that the coffee table had been knocked over and there was a "small flame lingering at the back of the couch", which was burnt at one end. He phoned his mother's partner, Mr Paul Byrne, to tell him about the fire and to ask where his mother was.
Mr Byrne said she was down town. Mr Quinn ran upstairs to check if his brother was in bed, but found no one. He said it then dawned on him that he had not checked the kitchen.
"Something was blocking the door," explained Mr Quinn, who said he saw a black shape on the floor covered in ashes.