Man found guilty of murdering homeless man in refuse chute

A man who assaulted a homeless man and shoved him down the rubbish chute of a Cork city apartment complex has been jailed for life for murder.

David O'Loughlin (28), of Apartment 10, Garden City Apartments, North Main Street, was found guilty of the murder of Liam Manley (59) on May 12th 2013.

The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork heard that Mr Manley died from asphyxia while trapped in the metal chute. His body was subsequently recovered by a maintenance worker after apartment residents complained about the rubbish chute being blocked.

Mr Manley’s body was in an advanced state of decomposition when it was found. The jury in the case returned a unanimous guilty verdict after deliberating for more than five hours over two days.

The jury requested that they visit the apartment complex to see the rubbish chute before they delivered their verdict. Trial judge Mr Justice Paul Carney agreed to the request.

Garda Noel Maxwell told Mr Justice Carney that O’Loughlin had 49 previous convictions dating back to 2004. He said O’Loughlin had a “traumatic family life” and had spent much of his early years in foster care and or institutions.

Kay Manley, a sister of the deceased, gave a victim impact statement in which she recounted the distress her family felt at the passing of her brother in such horrific circumstances.

“He (Liam) was a kind, caring and quiet man who loved life. He was much loved by family members and friends,” she said.

“To die in such horrific and frightening circumstances should be something that no one should have to endure. He didn’t deserve to have his life taken in such a way. He didn’t deserve to be put in a rubbish chute four flights up.”

She said the family “wake at night thinking about his last thoughts. He was waiting to die so alone and isolated from the world because of the act of one person”. The family would have to live with the “nightmare” of his passing for the rest of their lives, Ms Manley said.

In a statement read to the court, O’Loughlin said that Mr Manley didn’t deserve to die in the manner in which he did.

“I never intended to hurt or kill him. I am sorry his good name was taken,” it continued.

O’Loughlin previously told the Central Criminal Court that he never thought that Mr Manley would die when he put him into the refuse chute.

“I thought he would slide down in to the rubbish and go on about his business,” O’Loughlin told the jury of five men and seven women.

“I did not want him to die in that chute. I was horrified when I learned he had died in this chute. I could not believe my actions had led to the death of this man.”

O’Loughlin said that on the date in question, he had gone out in the early hours to get a meal from McDonald’s and met Mr Manley whom he did not know.

He gave him some food and brought him back to his apartment because he empathised with him being homeless and they were later joined by another man, David O’Mahony.

O’Loughlin said Mr O’Mahony claimed he knew Mr Manley from the Simon Community and that there had been a situation involving Mr Manley and a girl, that had been too disgusting to describe.

He knew now that it was not true and he did not want to blacken the late Mr Manley’s name but at the time, he punched him twice and told him to leave.

O’Loughlin said that, when the other man in the room made references to paedophilia in relation to Mr Manley, “it brought up a lot of shit for me. I got uncomfortable with the situation”.

He said he just wanted Mr Manley to leave the apartment. “I picked him up and tipped him into the chute. I did not think what was going to happen,” he said.

“I thought this (putting Mr Manley in the chute) would be a way of moving him from my apartment,” said O’Loughlin in reply to a question as to why he could not have put Mr Manley in the lift.

He denied that had he had put Mr Manley into the chute backwards or that there was any struggle with him. “I thought there would be a gradual fall into rubbish,” he said.

Mr Justice Carney thanked the jury for their service saying it was a “distressing” case. He exempted them from further jury service.

He jailed the accused for life.