Manuela murder trial hears phone call evidence

THE trial of a Galway man accused of murdering Swiss teenager Manuela Riedo has heard that calls made from his mobile phone bounced off a mast in the Lough Atalia area, where her body was found, on the night of her murder.

The jury also heard that the accused man told gardaí he did not go into Galway city on the night of the murder.

Manuela’s body was found in an area of wasteland beside a pedestrian walkway known locally as The Line, close to Lough Atalia.

She had arrived in Galway, where she was studying English with fellow Swiss students, three days earlier.

Gerald Barry, 28, of Rosan Glas, Rahoon, Galway, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Manuela Riedo, 17, at Lough Atalia, Renmore, Galway, on October 8, 2007.

He has pleaded guilty to stealing a camera and a mobile phone at the same place on the same date.

Fergus O’Toole, a senior engineer at Meteor Mobile Communications, told Dominic McGinn BL, prosecuting, that he assisted gardaí with the investigation into Manuela’s death, providing them with records of mobile phone traffic related to Barry’s phone number on the night of the alleged murder.

The court heard that a text message sent from Barry’s number was routed through a cell mast at Flannery’s Hotel in Renmore at 6.56pm.

The court has previously heard that The Line — adjacent to where Manuela’s body was found — is a shortcut between Renmore and Galway city.

A call made from Barry’s phone number was routed through the same cell mast at Flannery’s Hotel three minutes later. Another text message was sent from the phone number at 7.08pm, this time routed through a cell mast at Harris House, north of Flannery’s Hotel.

Four minutes later another text message was sent and routed through the mast at Flannery’s Hotel.

The court heard that the next two calls made from Barry’s handset were routed through a mast at Lough Atalia.

One call bounced off the cell mast located south of Lough Atalia at 7.19pm. The next call bounced off the same mast at 8.16pm.

Det Gda Michael Moran told the court that Barry gave him a statement eight days after the murder. Barry initially declined to give Det Gda Moran an account of his movements on the night, but then agreed to make a statement in writing.

The court heard that he told Det Gda Moran he woke on October 8 at 3pm and that his brother-in-law Dennis Ward and his brother Kevin Barry called over between 3pm and 4pm.

Barry said that they drove around in Mr Ward’s car and went to Salthill between 4pm and 7pm, then went to Mr Ward’s house.

He said that he ate there and watched TV before Mr Ward drove him back to his house at Rosan Glas sometime after 10pm.

Barry told Det Gda Moran that he was not in or around Galway city that day or night. He said that he did not leave the Salthill area.

“Neither did I walk along the railway line to Renmore,” he said. “It’s three weeks since I used it to get to my mother’s house.”

He said that it was a few weeks since he walked in or out of the city along The Line and that he had “no contact whatsoever with the girl who was murdered”.

“I don’t even know the girl,” he said.

Kevin Barry, brother of the accused, told the court that he was at home during the afternoon of October 8.

He said that his brother-in-law, Dennis Ward, picked him up and that they drove around for a while during the early evening.

Mr Ward told Mr McGinn that he was driving around with Kevin Barry that evening and that he received a call from the accused. He picked up the accused outside Supermacs at the bottom of Shop Street in Galway at about 8pm.

Mr McGinn asked if Barry “appeared worried”.

Mr Ward said that he was “normal”.

The court also heard that a camera was found between the bed and the mattress during a search of Barry’s home on October 18.

The camera was shown to Barry during interviews. He said: “I never saw that camera in my life.”

The trial continues.