‘It’s only a pig’s head, not a human head’
At Ennis Circuit Court yesterday, the jury heard numerous denials from Brendan Mahoney, aged 48, of 74 Cabra Park, Dublin 7, in four Garda interviews that he sent the pig’s head to Garda Paul Heaslip on January 26, 2012.
On the second day of the trial, Sgt Ronan O’Hara said that he arrested Mahoney for questioning in February 2012 after identifying him from CCTV footage taken from Prussia St post office in Dublin on January 26.
That is the date that gardaí allege the pig’s head, split down the middle, was sent to Garda Paul Heaslip at his Kilkee home.
In evidence yesterday, Divisional Scenes of Crime specialist Niall Kampff told the jury that it wasn’t tenable to retain the box that the pig’s head was sent in as “there was a very pungent odour of decaying flesh and it became a biohazard”.
Throughout the four Garda interviews, Mahoney denied he sent the pig’s head and also denied it was him in the CCTV footage of a man at Prussia St post office posting a cardboard box on January 26, 2012.
The CCTV footage was shown to the jury yesterday.
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Asked by a garda in one interview was it him holding the box in the CCTV footage, Mahoney said: “That’s not me and that’s not the box.”
Asked how he would feel if he received a pig’s head in the post, Mahoney said: “My personal view would be that it is only a pig’s head, not a human head.”
Asked what his response would be if he did receive a pig’s head, Mahoney said: “I’d laugh. I’m sure people would laugh it off.”
Asked would you think that it was obscene, grossly offensive and menacing, Mahoney said: “No, just that someone was taking the mick.”
Mahoney was living in Kilrush at the time of being interviewed by gardaí in February 2012 and he told gardaí he didn’t know Garda Paul Heaslip or that he was a garda.
Garda Heaslip and his wife, Natalie O’Neill gave brief evidence yesterday.
Ms O’Neill told the jury on the first day of the trial that she was “afraid, horrified and disgusted” when she saw the pig’s head in the box.
In the Garda interview, Mahoney said he had posted a parcel from Prussia St at some stage, but that it contained a tracksuit, runners, a card and other bits for a present to Australia. He said that it cost €90 to send.
The jury was told yesterday that the fee to send the pig’s head to Garda Paul Heaslip was €15.
In one interview, a garda said that the CCTV footage shows Mahoney entering the post office at 4pm on January 26 with a box open and the top open.
In reply, Mahoney said that there were white runners in the box.
The interviewing garda told Mahoney “you were seen on CCTV on January 26, 2012, at Prussia St Post office. You have a parcel in your hand with the top open and CCTV shows a pig’s head in the box. This is the same box that went to Paul Heaslip.”
In reply, Mahoney said: “That’s very strange.”
The trial continues.
