Bloodied fingerprint shown in court

A section of internal wall with a bloodied fingerprint removed from a murder scene was dramatically produced in a courtroom yesterday and shown to the jury.

The fingerprint, drilled from a wall section of 9 Langford Downs, where the bodies of mother and daughter Jolanta Lubiene, aged 27, and Enrika, aged 8, were found in June 2013, was “beyond doubt” that of the man accused of their murder, the Central Criminal Court in Tralee has been told by the prosecution.

However, the accused man denies the blood-print of the small left finger was his, the trial heard.

Aurimas Andruska, aged 27, a tree-planter from Lithuania and of Ardmoniel Heights, Killorglin, denies the murders of the mother and daughter at their home between June 15 and June 17, 2013.

Det Sgt John Grant told the jury no two persons can have the same fingerprint.

A left-hand print covered in blood and found three-quarters way up the stairs was of particular interest to the forensics team which analysed the scene, he said.

“We knew there was ridge detail in this print,” he said.

The technical team covered the print to preserve it and later the core section of wall between No 9 and No 10 was drilled with a diamond bit and expertly removed. It was dramatically presented to the jury yesterday.

The print was compared with those taken for elimination purposes from a large number of people, including Aurimas Andruska, Det Grant said.

Det Grant said he was “satisfied beyond doubt” that the print from the wall and the print of the left little finger of Aurimas Andruska were “the same”.

The jury has been told that the body of Jolanta Lubiene was found downstairs in the utility room area and that of her little girl was found lying in a pool of blood on the upstairs landing.

A latent print of the palm of a hand — latent means not visible to the eye and not in blood — was recovered from the wall near the body of Jolanta, the trial was told yesterday. It was not that of Aurimas Andruska, and it had never been identified.

Under cross-examination in the afternoon, Dean Kelly, junior counsel for Mr Andruska, put it that as late as the previous night he had watched on YouTube a demonstration of how fingerprints could be planted.

However, the detective said he knew of these videos but they were “nonsense” and the idea of transposing fingerprints or planting them was “beyond ridiculous,” according to Det Grant.

“Mr Andruska has told gardaí it his not his print,” Mr Kelly put it to Det Grant. However, the detective said he did not accept that.

The trial continues.