A woman bludgeoned to death with the leg of a chair died as a result of "blunt force trauma to her head, face and chest", the Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, told a jury at a murder trial in Galway yesterday.
Kieran Lynch (40), Askeaton, Co Limerick, denies the murder of his partner Catherine McEnery (35), Feenagh, Kilmeady, Co Limerick, at Rose Cottage, Derryhoyle Mór, Craughwell, over July 16th and 17th, 2005.
Giving evidence on the fourth day of the murder trial at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Galway, Dr Curtis said Ms McEnery had sustained multiple blows from a blunt instrument over most of her body, particularly her face, chest, trunk, upper and lower limbs. He said there had been extensive bruising with multiple lacerations to most parts of her body.
Dr Curtis outlined a series of injuries to Ms McEnery's hands which he said were defensive-type injuries. She had suffered these injuries, he said, as she tried to block or deflect blows from a blunt instrument.
"She had been subjected to a multiplicity of blows and suffered multiple bruises and lacerations over most of her body," the pathologist said.
Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury of four women and eight men heard the dead woman had suffered a fracture to the base of her skull, two fractures to her left jawbone and two fractures to her left cheekbone.
Two fingers on her right hand were broken and several ribs, mostly on the left side of her body, were broken, most of them in two places. Her left lung had been punctured in two places by the broken ribs.
Dr Curtis said Ms McEnery was intoxicated at the time of her death. A blood alcohol test gave a reading of 226mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood, while a urine sample showed a reading of 338mg of alcohol per 100ml of urine.
He also found a therapeutic level of the sedative, Valium, in the woman's body.
The court also heard evidence yesterday from forensic scientist Marcy Lee Gorman, who had examined the scene. She said that the pattern of bloodstains she examined in the cottage indicated assaults had taken place in the sitting room and also in the bedroom. She showed a bloodstained leg of a pine chair to the jury, which she said she had found at the scene.
Geraldine O'Neill, from the Forensic Science Laboratory, told the court that a blood sample taken from Mr Lynch after his arrest proved negative for alcohol or any other substance.
The trial continues.