A MAN HAS been found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of a woman who was beaten to death in her Cork home last year.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin deliberated for seven hours over three days following the trial of Derrick Daly (47), originally from Enfield, Co Meath, but with an address at St Vincent’s Hostel, Cork.
Daly had denied the murder of Catherine Smart (57), a mother of three, at the home they shared at Bailick Court, Midleton, Co Cork, on Easter Sunday morning, April 4th, 2010.
Ms Smart had been subjected to a violent assault and died from multiple blunt force injuries to the head. The jury of seven women and five men brought in a majority verdict of 11-1 on the ninth day of the trial.
During the trial, the jury heard evidence from a number of witnesses who testified that Daly was highly intoxicated in the hours before and after he claimed to have found Ms Smart’s body.
A local taxi driver and long-time friend of Ms Smart, Tony Bailey, gave evidence that he received a phone call from her at 7.31am on April 4th, in which she told him that she was “on the floor” and implored him to “get me out of here”, before the line went dead.
Mr Bailey tried to return the call three times without success, but thought nothing particular about it as “Saturday night was party night” and he was used to receiving “strange calls”.
Daly told gardaí in interviews that he left Bailick Court at 8.40am on the day of the murder to go to a local Lidl shop, leaving Ms Smart in good spirits in the livingroom.
Daly maintained that on his return to the property about 20 minutes later, he found that a body, which he believed to be that of Ms Smart, was blocking the door of the livingroom/kitchen of the home.
Daly denied in evidence that he had murdered Ms Smart.
Under cross-examination by Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, Daly said that on the morning of Ms Smart’s murder he was unable to get through the door of the livingroom/kitchen area, as the victim’s body was jammed up against it.
When asked by Mr Durack how his left thumbprint was found on a blood mark on the rear of the fridge, Daly had said: “I must have put my hand around. I am not sure.”
State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy told the jury the postmortem she carried out led her to conclude that Ms Smart was subjected to a violent assault and died from multiple blunt force injuries to the head.
She said the results of the examination indicated that the first blow inflicted on her may have been sufficient to knock her over and that she was subsequently struck multiple times while lying on the floor of her livingroom.
Dr Cassidy said bruises on the back of her hands were consistent with either defensive injuries, caused by the victim bringing her hands up to protect herself from further blows, or offensive injuries caused by the victim striking something with her hands.
Dr Cassidy agreed with Mr Durack that a broken blood-stained hurley found in the house could have caused the injuries inflicted on the victim.
Daly told gardaí in one of seven interviews at Midleton Garda station that he kept a hurley in the house, close to the back door.
However, despite refusing to recognise the broken blood-stained hurley found close to the victim as his own, and denying having used it to bludgeon Ms Smart to death, Daly told detectives that if the hurley was found in the house, “it must be” his.
Blaise O’Carroll SC, defending, said the evidence pointed towards his client being in highly intoxicated in the hours before Ms Smart’s death.
Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan thanked the jury for its great attention and exempted the jurors from further service for five years.
He remanded Daly to appear before him again on Monday, July 18th, for sentencing.