Victim had sought cash on day he disappeared

THE victim in a murder trial was looking for €600 or €700 – possibly for drugs – on the day he disappeared, his mother and father have told the jury.

Gillian Purcell, aged 34, of Simon, Anderson’s Quay, Cork, and formerly of Hollyhill, Cork, and John Walsh, aged 45, of Cork Street, Mitchelstown, both deny the charge of murdering John McManus on a date unknown between October 28 and November 7, 2008, at flat 1, 3 Verdon Place, Wellington Road, Cork.

Father of the deceased, Pat McManus, said in his statement to gardaí investigating his son’s death: “I knew it was money for drugs he was looking for. That is why I didn’t give it to him.”

Mr McManus also told gardaí that his son gave him the impression in a phone call on October 30, 2008, that there were “some dangerous people in the background”.

Mother of the deceased, Geraldine McManus, also refused to give her son this money when he rang her on the same day, the Thursday before the jazz weekend two years ago.

She said that the last contact she got from her son was an abusive text that night. By way of explanation, Ms McManus told the jury that her son suffered a horrific brain injury in 1996, 12 years to the day of his death, and was awarded €600,000 compensation.

He was made a ward of court and his mother dispensed money to him twice a week. On one occasion three years ago, the late John McManus assaulted his mother by punching her in the nose and a court order was made preventing him from living in Fermoy.

For that reason he moved to Cork city where he lived in B&B accommodation, and ultimately at the flat on Verdon Place.

“John’s violence was only directed to me. I constantly looked out for him. I would have reprimanded him. You take out things on the person you love the most, he took it out on me. Sometimes if he got into a frenzy about something he could lose it. He never saw the consequences of his actions,” said Ms McManus.

The deceased’s brother, Conor, said that John was happy to be living independently in the flat in Cork. He said that, unusually, his brother did not want to meet him that Thursday when he (Conor) phoned.

Two witnesses from New Zealand travelled to Cork for the trial. Shiran Hatfield and Kylie Galbraith had been living in the flat over flat 1 where John McManus lived. They heard banging and music at around 1.45am on the night of October 30/31. Ms Hatfield went down, knocked on the door and called out to shut up and turn down the music.

She told gardaí that she heard a man’s voice from the other side of the closed door saying, “Hello, come in”. She did not know who said this and she returned to her flat. Another neighbour, Daniel Duggan, described the late Mr McManus as “a very nice lad”.

The case goes into its third day before Mr Justice Paul Carney and the jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork today.

Bloodstains and teeth at scene

DETAILED crime scene forensic evidence of bloodstains and spatters around the flat of the deceased was presented to the jury, who were also told that two human teeth and a chip of a third tooth were found at the scene.

Detective Garda Thomas Ryan from Fermoy knew the McManus family, and Geraldine McManus contacted him when she could not get in contact with her son.

Det Garda Ryan and his colleague, Det Garda Denis Ryan, went to the flat and as soon as they entered they saw blood spattered on the kitchen presses and worktop, and on the door jam. Blood was also seen on walls and floor in the hallway. Concerned that a crime had been committed, the flat was preserved as a crime scene.

Detective Garda Derry Griffin carried out a detailed forensic examination of the crime scene and took photographs throughout the apartment.

He described the finding of the teeth and blood stains and spatters at many locations in the flat.

The CD player was off with no CD or cassette and the radio was tuned to Spin FM and set at full volume.