A Kerry man accused of murdering his uncle started to cry when gardaí found a wellington boot in the well they were searching for the dead man's body, a detective garda told a murder trial yesterday.
Det Garda Noel Browne, Killarney Garda station, told the Central Criminal Court that he was standing beside Mr Eugene Daly when gardaí shouted that they had found a wellington boot.
"He said: 'Jesus, 'tis awful, he should not have gone away. People who do that stuff don't stay around, no way'."
Det Garda Browne said the accused then asked him: "Would I be able to collect my dole on Thursday?" When asked why, the accused replied: "The neighbours will think we did it - we did nothing."
Det Garda Browne told prosecuting counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that the accused then asked if the events at the farm would be in the newspapers. When asked why, Mr Daly repeated: "The neighbours would think we did it, we did nothing." Cross-examined by Mr Brendan Grehan SC, defending, Det Garda Browne agreed that the accused had helped gardaí to pull plastic covering off the well. Asked if he thought the accused's remarks about collecting the dole were "odd in the circumstances", he replied: "It was, my lord."
He said the accused told him that his family had eaten only two meals a day since his uncle Paddy "went away" as they were "worried sick about him".
Mr Grehan put it to the witness that the accused made similar comments to the media who had descended on the scene.
Counsel remarked that Mr Daly's behaviour was similar to a boy "with jam around his face with the doughnut eaten".
It was the fifth day of the trial of Mr Eugene Daly (29), Dooneen, Kilcummin, Killarney, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his uncle, Patrick Daly (69), at Dooneen on January 18th, 1996.
Legal argument in the absence of the jury will begin on Monday and the jury has been asked by Mr Justice Abbott to return on Tuesday.