A Sinn Féin TD was among the first to discover the body of a woman in a wardrobe at her home in Dublin in 2001, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mr Aengus Ó Snodaigh, the deputy for Dublin South Central, was the first witness called to testify at the trial of Mr David Bell (26), who is accused of murdering his sister, Ms Lisa Rose Bell (22), at their flat in St Teresa's Gardens, Dublin, in December 2001.
Mr Bell pleads not guilty to the murder of Ms Bell, who was found dead in her wardrobe on Sunday, December 16th, 2001. Her throat had been slit and her body hidden in a sleeping bag.
Mr John Edwards SC, prosecuting, told the court the accused officially became a co-tenant with his sister in May 2001, but that the relationship between the two had become difficult due to Mr Bell's heroin addiction.
He was a reformed addict when he moved in with Ms Bell and her two-year-old son, Aaron, but went back on drugs. The court heard how the accused sold several of Ms Bell's belongings including a TV, children's toys and jewellery, to fund his drug habit.
"The thefts led to friction and confrontations between them," Mr Edwards told the court. "Lisa determined to get him out of the flat."
On the morning of her death, Ms Bell had just returned from working a night shift at An Post at 6.30 a.m. when she and Mr Bell became embroiled in an argument over his behaviour.
"He attempted to strangle her, and slashed her throat with a Stanley knife, almost severing her head," the court heard.
The victim's son was staying in Finglas with his father, Mr Noel Farrell, at the time of his mother's death. Ms Bell was no longer living with Mr Farrell, but she had maintained a good relationship with the father of her child, according to Mr Edwards.
Counsel told the court how Mr Farrell became concerned when Ms Bell failed to collect her son from him later that day. He rang her father, Mr Pat Bell, who called to the flat accompanied by Mr Ó Snodaigh and a friend of Ms Bell, Ms Niamh Ní Dhalaigh.
Mr Ó Snodaigh told the court how, accompanied by Mr Pat Bell and Ms Ní Dhalaigh, he entered Ms Bell's flat and searched for evidence that she had returned home safely from work.
The trial continues today.