Witnesses provide ‘sounds, visuals of murder’

A soundtrack of the circumstances surrounding the murder of 27-year-old Jonathan Duke was available to the jury complete with noise from an upstairs apartment, the dragging of a body down the stairs, comments by the accused woman, and her laughing like a hyena afterwards.

That was the description made in a speech to the jury yesterday by Tim O’Leary, prosecuting, in the trial of Catherine O’Connor, aged 37, of Bridge House, Sean Hales Place, Bandon, Co Cork, who denies murdering Mr Duke at Bridge House on Nov 13 2011.

Isobel Kennedy, defending, said: “The prosecution are scraping the bottom of the barrel in this case, simply because she was in the room. It is not a crime to behave callously, it is not a crime not to run down the stairs and scream about it, it is not a crime to do nothing. It is not enough for you to bring home a conviction for murder.”