Fatal shot to chest fired from distance of 4ft

A murder trial has heard that the cause of death of Patricia Kierans, a mother of four, was a shotgun injury to the chest.

Oliver Kierans, aged 57, of Drumbannon, Bailieborough in Cavan, has pleaded not guilty to murdering wife Patricia Kierans, aged 54, on September 5, 2013, at the same address.

He also pleaded not guilty to unlawful possession of a 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun and not guilty to possession of the same shotgun with intent to endanger life.

Professor Marie Cassidy, the State pathologist, yesterday told Michael O’Higgins, prosecuting, that she had attended the Kierans’ family home on September 6, 2013.

Prof Cassidy told the court she observed a “single shot to the chest” of Mrs Kierans. “I noted the body of an adult female of slim build with a 4.5cm irregular hole on the upper front part of the body. There was blood over the right half of the face, the right side of the neck, and a shotgun injury to the right upper chest, 2cm below the collar bone.

“The wound measured 4.5cm across by 5.5cm down and the margin of the hole was irregular, almost like the petals of a flower.

“The first and third ribs were fragmented and there were 500mm of blood in the chest cavity. There was a shotgun wound to the upper right lung and damage to the lower part of the left lung.

“There were entry and exit wounds to the sac of the heart but otherwise, her heart had been healthy.

“This woman was found dead in the family home lying in a pool of blood with a single shot to the chest. The injuries were of such severity that death would have been almost immediate.

“The cause of her death was a shotgun injury to the chest which could have been shot from a distance of 1.2m or 4ft. The pellets were mainly travelling slightly downwards through the body.”

Under cross-examination by Anthony Sammon, Prof Cassidy confirmed how the distance from the gun to the wound had been calculated.

“When the pellets are discharged, they stay together as a mass. As they travel through the air, pellets move away from each other and fan out.

“We can use the appearance of the hole on the body to see whether there was clustering, which gives us an idea of what the distance was from the gun.”

Also yesterday, Detective Garda Oliver Flaherty read a series of text messages sent from one mobile phone, identified as that of the accused, to Mrs Kierans’ phone the day before she was found dead at the family home.

The first text message read from Mr Kierans’ phone was sent on September 4, 2013, and stated: “I will do anything you want love.” A second message said: “We can sort this out love — I want you to come to Australia with me — love you to bits.”

In a reply sent from Mrs Kierans’ phone at 11.34am, a message was read to the jury saying: “Sorry, no I don’t want to be with you anymore — please do not text me or ring — I have made up my mind — it is over.”

The court heard that a text sent from Mr Kierans’ phone at 12.01pm to his wife stated: “Poor Julia can’t believe you made love to another man so quick.”

Garda Sharon Langan of the Garda Ballistics section yesterday told Mr O’Higgins about a test she carried out on the 12-gauge double-barrel shotgun to determine the amount of pressure that would need to be applied to the trigger in order for it to function.

Garda Langan said she found that out of the two triggers, the front trigger would require more force to be applied and that the pressure needed for the back trigger was acceptable.

Under cross-examination by Mr Sammon, Garda Langan confirmed that when a her colleague had dropped the same gun from a height of 2ft, both barrels had discharged.

The trial continues.