Fatal stabbing a ‘sustained and violent assault’

STATE pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy told a murder trial that the injuries she found on the body of a stab victim suggested he suffered a “sustained and violent assault”.

Patrick Murphy, aged 27, died because of a 22cm stab wound to his abdomen which cut through his left kidney and renal blood vessels and came as far as the under-surface of the skin on his back, Prof Cassidy said. He also suffered multiple knife injuries to his head, including a cut to his scalp which caused a groove in his skull, and to his back, legs and arms, the pathologist told a trial at the Central Criminal Court in Waterford.

John Flaherty, aged 25, of Ard Daire, Ferrybank, Waterford, denies the murder of Patrick Murphy on June 20 of last year at 42 The Glen, Waterford.