Photo of toe sent from phone after alleged murder, court told

A photograph of a toe was sent from a phone attributed to a murder accused the night after he is alleged to have killed an acquaintance, who was found ablaze with his toe amputated.

A jury heard the evidence on Monday morning in the trial of a 29-year-old homeless man charged with murdering another homeless man in a Dublin park in 2013.

The Central Criminal Court heard 36-year-old Gerard Donnelly had almost €150,000 just weeks before gardaí­ found his body on fire in the Phoenix Park. The father-of-one died of blunt force trauma to the head before being set alight and having his little toe amputated.

Ciaran Moran, with an address at Camden Hall, Camden Street, Dublin has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Donnelly at an unknown time during November 28th or 29th, 2013.

Sony Xperia

Det Garda Eamon O’Brien testified on Monday morning that he found an image of a toe on a Sony Xperia phone that a friend of the accused said he had taken from Mr Moran on November 30th.

The detective said the image was in the sent folder of WhatsApp, a mobile application used to send messages. He said it had been created at 10.41pm on November 29th and seemed to have been sent from the phone at that time. He did not have any information on the recipient.

Richard Doyle testified last week that he had taken the Sony Xperia from the accused to call an ambulance for him on the night of November 30th.

He said the accused disappeared before he could return the phone to him. He handed it over to gardaí a few days later.

On Friday, the jury in the trial was shown the smartphone and a €600 bicycle that Mr Moran is purported to have bought after he allegedly killed Mr Donnelly.

Blue Giant bike

The blue Giant bike was wheeled up the Central Criminal Court courtroom on Friday during the hearing.

Sgt Gavin Ross testified he searched Mr Moran's room in the hostel where he had been staying in November 2013. He found the key to a padlock in his drawer and looked around the yard outside.

“I saw a new-looking pushbike with a new-looking lock on it. I tried the key in the lock and it opened it,” he said, describing the blue and white Giant bicycle, which was then shown to the jury.

He said the hostel manager confirmed Mr Moran owned the bicycle and that he had given her an envelope containing its warranty and receipt. She handed this over to the sergeant, who said the envelope also contained a Carphone Warehouse receipt and insurance certificate in Mr Moran's name.

The Carphone Warehouse documents were dated shortly after 2pm on November 29th, 2013 and the jury was shown a Sony Xperia phone to which the State said the receipt related.

The trial had already heard a customer called Ciaran Moran bought a bicycle, lights and lock in a shop on Camden Street that evening (November 29th). The total paid to the bicycle shop was €684.

Bed and breakfast

The jury also heard the accused had checked into a bed and breakfast in the middle of the night of the alleged murder. The court had previously heard he was a “no show” at his hostel on Camden Street that night.

Receptionist Maciej Szczupaczynski testified he was working the night shift in the Durban B&B on Gardiner Street in Dublin.

He said three people checked in together some time between 2am and 4am on November 29th. The two men and one woman had not pre-booked and shared a room.

He confirmed from a room list that Ciaran Patrick Moran was one of these people. He identified the check-in form in Mr Moran's name and confirmed he had paid €120 in cash.

He identified the copy he had made of Mr Moran’s public service card, provided as identification. He said he had looked at the photo on the card and was satisfied it was the person handing it to him.

He said he did not smell any alcohol or see any injuries and that the guests were making jokes with each other.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan and a jury of nine men and three women.