Sombre suits match sombre mood in packed courtroom

AT first glance, it could have been a college lecture theatre with its tiered public benches occupied predominantly by spectators in their early 20s - but there the similarity ends.

The setting was courtroom number two of the Central Criminal Court at Cork City Courthouse and it was day five of the Wayne O’Donoghue murder trial.

Just after 10.45am yesterday, the courtroom door was opened and the accused, Wayne O’Donoghue, escorted in. Seated in the dock, flanked by prison officers, he adopted his customary stance - shoulders slouched forward, head bowed. Two rows ahead of him sat Mark and Majella Holohan, parents of Robert, the 11-year-old neighbour Wayne confessed to killing on January 16.

With her distinctive blond hair, held back in a black hair tie, Majella seemed composed, dressed in a white shirt and black jumper and trousers, on her lap a rich red coat. Wearing a grey suit, with pale blue shirt and royal blue tie, her husband Mark sat close by, one arm outstretched, gripping the back of the bench in front of him.

Behind Wayne, in the front bench of the public gallery, sat his parents Ray and Theresa, and to their rear, Wayne’s girlfriend Rebecca Dennehy, wearing black with leopard-print scarf and bag. Next to her sat her father Richard.

Sombre suits matched a sombre mood. Wayne, aged 21, wore dark grey. His father, with an air of exhaustion, wore a navy blazer and pale green shirt and tie. His mother, dressed in a grey trouser suit offset by a string of pearls, seemed a distant presence. Eyes closed for much of the proceedings, she had the appearance of someone struggling to comprehend the situation she was in.

The public gallery was largely filled with young faces, of an age similar to the accused, with just a smattering of middle-aged observers to bring the numbers close to 100.

They watched, enrapt, as two videos of the accused being interviewed by detectives while in custody was shown to the jury of seven women and five men for the first time.

In the first, which was just over an hour long, Det Sgt Michael O’Sullivan read to Wayne the voluntary statement he made on January 16 in which he admitted to killing Robert Holohan.

The second, a portion of which was played, consisted of an interview conducted by Det Sgt Brian Goulding of Midleton Garda Station and Det Garda Seán O’Brien, attached to the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Filmed on January 17, the videos showed a slimmer Wayne, shorter hair, casually dressed in zip-up jumper and Adidas tracksuit bottoms.

In the first video, he listened, eyes downcast as his statement was read out, agreeing now and again to its contents, and occasionally running his hands through his hair or sipping water from a plastic cup. In the second, he responded calmly to questions, just raising his voice slightly when telling the detectives: “Never once in my head did any intent ever come in ... to harm the boy.”

On a number of occasions, Wayne demonstrated his actions, sometimes rising from his seat to do so.

When asked if he had pushed Robert while telling the youngster to go away after he had thrown pebbles at Wayne and at his car, he said he didn’t, demonstrating the “nudge” he had used. He rose from his seat to demonstrate how he had placed his hand around Robert’s neck.

He also demonstrated how he had held Robert in a “headlock position” and stood again to show how he had lifted Robert’s body into his house. Wayne also gave an account of how he had intended to cut his own throat after he realised Robert was dead.

“I don’t know why I didn’t, y’know, to be honest, I was probably a coward,” he said.