Pathologist: Celine could have been saved
Dr Michael Curtis also told her husband’s murder trial at the Central Criminal Court that it was unlikely she would have died had she received prompt medical attention.
The pathologist was giving evidence at the Eamonn Lillis trial for allegedly murdering his wife on December 15, 2008. The 52-year-old TV advert producer has pleaded not guilty to her murder at their home at Rowan Hill, Windgate Road, Howth.
Ms Cawley died in hospital after Mr Lillis said he found an intruder attacking her on their patio. He last week admitted that there was no intruder.
Dr Curtis said the 46-year-old received three blows to her head with a blunt object and that her injuries were consistent with her first being struck a blow to the head, falling face down unconscious, and then receiving further blows.
He gave her principal cause of death as blunt force trauma to the head with haemorrhage and postural asphyxia, and said contributory factors were obesity and enlargement of the heart.
Dr Curtis said he was told by gardaí that the 5ft 10½in tall woman had been found face down.
“Such a posture, particularly in an obese woman, would have splinted her diaphragm, dangerously impairing her ability to breathe,” he said.
He said she bled profusely from her skull so her heart would have been seriously deprived of blood flow and oxygen.
Dr Curtis said Ms Cawley’s head was blood-soaked when he conducted a postmortem examination on her body the day after she died.
He said her scalp wounds included an extensive area of abrasion incorporating a laceration on the right side of her head behind her forehead.
At the back, there was an injury to each the left and right sides. Towards the top of the head on the left, there was a laceration. There was a second laceration on the right, but the surrounding bruising was obvious only on internal examination.
She had numerous scrapes on her face as well as some faint bruising on an arm and thigh.
Dr Curtis said there was no fracture to the skull or facial bones and no brain damage or other internal head injuries.
“In the absence of brain injury and inter-cranial bleeding, it’s probable her life may have been saved if she’d received prompt medical treatment,” he said.
Mary Ellen Ring SC, prosecuting, asked him what he made of an explanation put forward that Ms Cawley slipped, bounced back up, was pinned against glass, before she and the other person slipped to the ground, with a brick coming between her head and the ground.
“In my opinion that account does not in any way explain satisfactorily the injuries,” he said.
Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending, he said that only moderate force would have been needed to cause the injuries to her scalp. He said it might have taken a few minutes for her to die once unable to breathe.
He agreed that a person who wasn’t obese and didn’t have an enlarged heart would have been less likely to have died having received similar injuries.
Dr Curtis agreed that Ms Cawley’s injuries could have been caused by a brick.
Mr Grehan asked if he thought the head wounds might be consistent with a fall.
“I think the one on the right frontal temporal region and the one on the left at the back are at sites not typical of injuries due to a fall. The one on the right at the back could be due to a fall,” he said.
However, he said he couldn’t categorically say that the injuries didn’t come from a fall.
Mr Grehan also quizzed Mr Curtis on the sequence of events he had given Ms Ring.
“I’m saying it’s strongly suggestive. I’m not saying it’s absolutely the case. She was found face down. I was told that,” Mr Curtis said.
“By whom?” asked Mr Grehan.
“Gardaí,” he replied.
Dr Curtis explained that he used this piece of information, along with the injuries to her scalp and face, to come up with the sequence.
“If she was on her back, does it diminish the strength of your view?” asked Mr Grehan.
“Yes,” said Mr Curtis.
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