Wexford accused asked friend to wipe numbers, texts on phone

A man accused of murdering his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend told his friend to wipe the numbers and messages on his mobile phone moments before gardaí arrested him, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.

James Connors, aged 29, of Rosemount, Drinagh, Co Wexford, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 27-year-old James Ryan at Hollyville Heights, Wexford Town, on January 25, 2012.

Witness Mary Connors told Gerard Clarke, prosecuting, that she was picking Mr Connors up in the early hours of January 25 when gardaí appeared.

“[Mr Connors] had a phone that he threw and he told me to delete the numbers and messages,” Ms Connors said, adding that she drove home, later retrieved the phone, and did as Mr Connors had asked.

She said that, on January 24, the day before Mr Ryan died, Mr Connors called her

for a lift. She brought him back to her house. “He was very intoxicated and incoherent,” she said.

Mr Connors left and told her he would not come back. After midnight, she received a call from Mr Connors.

“He said he had been jumped and that he was on John’s Rd in Wexford,” she said. He wanted her to pick him up.

She said his face was bleeding and she told him he needed to go to hospital, but he refused. They returned to her house and she washed his bloodstained clothes while he changed into clothes he had left at her house.

The trial continues.