The homeless man whose body was found in the rubbish chute of an apartment block suffered no fatal injuries beforehand and died as a result of asphyxia and lack of oxygen, a pathologist has said.

The man on trial for murder told gardaí more than a week after the deceased was found in the rubbish chute of an apartment complex that he prayed for him every day.

A witness in a murder trial testified yesterday that she laughed when the accused told her over the phone that he assaulted someone and threw him down a drainpipe because she thought it was impossible.

A murder trial witness said the accused first jokingly called a 59-year-old homeless man a paedophile and a kiddy-fiddler, then said it seriously and assaulted him, dragged him out of a flat, and came back saying “he has gone down the drain”.

The man accused of murdering a homeless 59-year-old, whose body was found in an apartment complex rubbish chute, told a friend that night “the man was down the drain”, the prosecution claimed on the opening day of the trial yesterday.

A jury of seven women and five men was sworn in yesterday for the trial of a man accused of murdering a homeless man whose body was discovered in a refuse chute of an apartment building in May 2013.

Dual Derby winner Australia has been retired to stud, said a Coolmore representative.

A murder charge was brought yesterday in the case where the body of a homeless man was discovered in a refuse chute of an apartment building in May.

A 26-year-old man was charged with a count of assault causing harm following the investigation into the body of a homeless man found dumped in a refuse chute in Cork earlier this month.

MYRON SIMPSON of the New Zealand national team claimed yesterday’s sixth stage of the An Post Rás from Castletownbere to Blarney with a stunning sprint victory into one of the most storied towns in Irish cycling.

Matt Brammeier of the An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly cycling team is Irish National champion after a remarkable win in the All-Irelands today in Sligo.

DEFENDING champion Nicolas Roche, his cousin Daniel Martin who won the title a couple of years ago, three-time winner David O’Loughlin and another former winner, David McCann will line up for the national road race championships in Sligo tomorrow.

ALEXANDER WETTERHALL (Sweden Team Sprocket Pro) left many of the big names scratching their heads in wonderment after he built on his midweek escape to claim overall victory in the FBD Insurance Rás which concluded before a huge crowd that turned out in glorious sunshine in Skerries yesterday.

Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden Team Sprocket Pro) left many of the big names scratching their heads in wonderment after he built on his midweek escape to claim overall victory in the FBD Insurance Rás which concluded before a huge crowd that turned out in glorious sunshine in Skerries today.

Irish rider Mark Cassidy (Belgium An Post Grant Thornton M. Donnelly Sean Kelly) realised a childhood dream today in Kilcullen when he won the penultimate stage seven of this year's FBD Insurance Rás.

RACE leader Alexander Wetterhall (Team Sprocket Pro) is bracing himself for another tough day of climbing as today’s penultimate stage of the FBD Insurance Rás takes the riders into the Wicklow Mountains.

ALEXANDER WETTERHALL (Sweden Team Sprocket Pro) hung on to the race leader’s yellow jersey by six seconds as Jon Tiernan-Locke (Britian Rapha Condor Sharp) powered his way to victory at the top of Seskin Hill where a huge crowd gathered to welcome yesterday’s fifth stage of the FBD Insurance Rás.

Jon Tiernan-Locke of the Rapha Condor Sharp team won today’s fifth stage of the FBD Insurance Rás from Tipperary Town to Seskin Hill, Carrick-on-Suir.

NEW leader, Alexander Wetterhall (Sweden Team Sprocket Pro), will wear the yellow jersey when the FBD Insurance Rás arrives at the top of Seskin Hill tomorrow, but it would take a big prediction to identify the possible leader when the race departs the spiritual home of cycling.

Maximillian May of the German Thuringer Energie team claimed today’s fourth stage of the FBD Insurance Rás from Oughterard, Co. Galway to Tipperary Town.

AFTER leading the race through his home town of Cong, David O’Loughlin (An Post/Sean Kelly), supplied the perfect finishing touch to the third stage of the FBD Insurance Rás when he outsprinted defending champion, Simon Richardson (Sigma Sport Specialised).

Mayoman David O’Loughlin crowned one of the highlights of his career with a stunning stage win in the FBD Insurance Rás into Oughterard, Co Galway today.

MARK CASSIDY was little more than an interested spectator when he stood alongside his mother in Drogheda to watch his father, Philip, don the coveted race leader’s yellow jersey at the end of the penultimate stage of the 1999 FBD Insurance Rás.

The An Post Sean Kelly cycling team has today announced its team for this years FBD Insurance Rás which starts this Sunday in Dunboyne.

The cycling team which bears the name of Irish cycling legend Seán Kelly has outlined an ambitious list of targets for the coming season and revealed that they are upping a gear in a bid to land success.

LANCE ARMSTRONG wants to conquer St Patrick’s Hill in Cork and he will he will grab the opportunity when the Tour of Ireland finishes in the city on August 23.

A FORMER rider in standard-issue team colours with neat red hair pinned down under designer shades, Kurt Bogaerts doesn’t really look it – but he drives like Evel Knievel late for Mass.

NICOLAS ROCHE (Ag2r) will wear the Irish road race champion’s jersey to the start of the Tour de France in Monaco next weekend although he was still awaiting confirmation from his team last night following his exciting victory in the Elite Road Race championship at Dunboyne yesterday.

DAVID O’LOUGHLIN (An Post/Sean Kelly) attempts to win the Elite road race championship for a fourth time at Dunboyne on Sunday.

SAM BENNETT (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) was back up in the thick of the action as Nicholas Walker (Australia Cinelli-Down Under) outsprinted Jaan Kirsipuu (Norway Giant-Veolia) and Monday’s stage winner, Ian Wilkinson (Britain Halfords Bike Hut) for stage glory when the FBD Insurance Rás produced another explosive finish in Scariff yesterday evening.

NICHOLAS WALKER (Australia Cinelli-DownUnder) was the surprise stage winner and Simon Richardson (Britain Rapha Condor) took the race-leader’s yellow jersey, but it was young Sam Bennett (Tipperary Dan Morrissey) who turned in the performance of the day to finish sixth in the uphill sprint when the FBD Insurance Rás arrived in Killorglin last evening.

CHRIS NEWTON has the opportunity to join the legends of cycling over the coming week by winning the FBD Insurance Rás for a third time and John Herety, manager of the British Rapha Condor team, admitted on the eve of Irish cycling’s showpiece that the former world champion and three-time Olympic medallist has that as his ambition.

The An Post Sean Kelly Team is back on home soil for the first time this year ahead of this weekend’s FBD Rás, which gets underway in Kilcullen, Co. Wicklow on Sunday.

TWO of Ireland’s leading hopes for the FBD Insurance Rás, Brian Kenneally and Paul Griffin, have been out of sorts recently but expect to go to the line in Kilcullen for Sunday’s opening stage to Wexford town with all guns blazing.

BRIAN KENNEALLY has recovered from his third win in the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan, but has not yet decided if he will contest the Shay Elliott Memorial in Bray next Sunday when he could opt for the big race down south, the Bill Hyland Memorial in Clonmel.

JUST a week after winning the coveted Route du Sud in the Pyrenees, Daniel Martin returned to Ireland to claim the shamrock jersey of the national champion with another power-packed display on the Ballinacurra circuit, near Midleton, yesterday.

PAUL HEALION (South Dublin) won the senior men’s national time trial title in the absence of the professional riders at Newcastlewest last night.

WITH three of Ireland’s four Olympic cyclists in the field, Sunday’s national road race championships in Midleton promise to be the most competitive in recent years.

STEPHEN GALLAGHER (An Post/Sean Kelly/Martin Donnelly/ Grant Thornton) won the overall title and the national road race champion, David O’Loughlin (Pezula Racing), won the high-profile final stage of the FBD Insurance Rás in Skerries yesterday as Irish riders reclaimed control of Irish cycling’s showpiece.

DAVID McCANN (Ireland National Team) just can’t wait for tomorrow’s penultimate stage which takes the FBD Insurance Rás high into the Wicklow Mountains where he feels the destination of the overall title will be decided.

STEPHEN GALLAGHER (An Post/Sean Kelly/Martin Donnelly) set out from Ballinamore yesterday morning hoping for a stage win, but by last night he had introduced an exciting new dimension to this year’s FBD Insurance Rás by claiming the race leader’s yellow jersey in a three-man sprint into Claremorris.

CIARAN POWER (Pezula) would like to take his place among the legends of Irish cycling next week by winning the FBD Insurance Rás for the third time.

THE organiser of the FBD Insurance Rás has had to turn down a request from the Italian Cycling Federation to have their Olympic track team included in the line-up for this year’s showpiece which gets under way on Sunday week.

THE Shay Elliott Memorial Classic in Bray tomorrow is the big event this weekend with the evergreen Malcolm Elliott returning to defend his title.