Accused: I prayed for dead man every day

The man on trial for murder told gardaí more than a week after the deceased was found in the rubbish chute of an apartment complex that he prayed for him every day.

One member of the investigative team said to the accused that to put someone in a chute was “the most evil act imaginable”, and it was going through the mind of each garda dealing with the case. The officer then said to the accused: “I am looking at the devil.” David O’Loughlin replied: “That is an awful thing to say.”

Mr O’Loughlin, aged 28, of Garden City Apartments, North Main St, Cork, denies murdering Liam Manley, aged 59, at that address on May 12, 2013. Mr Manley’s remains were found in a refuse chute which ran from the top of the four-floor complex to the ground floor.

Gardaí who carried out the interviews included detectives, Sgt Shane Bergin and gardaí Katrine Tansley, Padraig Harrington, Daragh Murray, and Michelle O’Leary.

It was put to the accused that he shared some chips with the late Mr Manley when he met him outside McDonald’s, Daunt Square, in the early hours of May 12, 2013. It was put to him that after they went back to the accused’s apartment, where two other men were also present and two women visited later, that something went seriously wrong.

Mr O’Loughlin replied: “Whatever one’s excuse, one would never do something like that.”

When it was suggested that the Manley family needed closure, the accused said: “They will get it.” He was asked, “Will you not tell us the truth?” He replied: “All the truth will come out.”

Asked if anyone else in the apartment that day had assaulted Mr Manley, Mr O’Loughlin said he was 100% sure none of them had .

“I think you cannot get your head around what you have done and your reason for doing it” an interviewer said and Mr O’Loughlin replied: “That is your interpretation.”

Det Sgt Bergin said: “Not only did you take his life, you took his good name. They are the only words [the comment that the deceased was a paedophile] that will come out. That is a horrible thing to say about someone. You have taken his life, you have taken his name. Why did you call him a paedophile? Will you accept that is an awful thing to say?”

Mr O’Loughlin replied: “There were reasons for that thing. However, it is wrong to say that.” Det Sgt Bergin said: “What are the reasons for slandering him? We have looked into his background. He is not a paedophile.”

Det Sgt Bergin said: “Tell us what happened, you shared a McDonald’s, you went back to your apartment, you had a drink with him, you assaulted him, you put him in a chute, it is time the why came out — why did Liam Manley have to leave the world so horribly, so alone? Did you say a prayer for him?”

Mr O’Loughlin replied: “I have said a prayer for him every day… The jigsaw puzzle will be finished and the truth will come out.”

The case was adjourned until next Tuesday.