A Dublin man accused of killing both his parents pleaded not guilty to murder at the Central Criminal Court today.
John Francis Dolan (27), of Ravensdale Road, East Wall, Dublin pleaded not guilty to the charge that on a date unknown between June 16th and 19th, 1999 he murdered Gertrude Dolan (56) and her husband John (71) at the family home.
Mr Justice Paul Carney told the court that he believed the evidence would reveal that the deceased parties were the parents of the accused.
Opening the case, Kenneth Mills SC prosecuting, told the jury that the accused lived in the family home with his parents and had been 26 years of age when the deaths occurred.
He was an only child and had worked at CIE and on an oil rig. His parents w ere retired, but his mother Gertrude had been in reciept of Disability benefit because of ill health.
Mr Mills said Mr and Mrs Dolan were last seen around June 17th but their bodies were not discovered until June 28th, when Gertrude's two brothers Michael and Frank Power visited the house looking for their sister. He said the bodies of the couple were found decomposing under a duvet blanket in the living room of their home and that flies at the window had caused neighbours to become suspicious that something was wrong.
After knocking at the house door several times that day and not gaining entry, Frank Power returned late in the evening and looked through the letterbox and saw a light on, Mr Mills said.
He knocked again and the accused man opened the door and Mr Power went into the hallway of the house and was met with a "substantial smell", counsel said. He went into the living room on the right and "he saw something suspicious on the floor and there was a substantial smell," Mr Mills said.
Mr Power then took the house key from the accused and left for his own home on the same street, to telephone his brother Michael, who later arrived at his brother's house.
The two men then went to their sister's house and entered using the key obtained from the accused. Giving evidence to the court, Mr Frank Power said that upon arriving at the house, he and his brother Michael went into the living room where John Francis was sitting smoking a cigarette.
The two bodies of Mr and Mrs Dolan were lying on the floor, covered with a blanket "but it was the smell that really got me," he said. "Michael said 'What happened?' to Francie, and he said 'I had to stab them'," Mr Power said.
"All I heard him say was that he was very sorry for what he had done," Mr Power told the court. Mr Frank Power then telephoned the Gardai, who arrived on the scene a short time later.
The trial before Mr Justice Carney continues tomorrow in the absence of the jury of six men and six women to allow legal argument to commence.