Cork victim may have been 'dragged' to park - jury hears

The position a 22 year-old woman was lying in when she was found dead in a park in Co Cork was "not natural" and suggested she had been dragged there, a doctor told a murder trial today.

Dr David Murphy GP from Cork was giving evidence on the fourth day of the trial of an 18 year-old Cork man accused of the murder of 22 year-old Rachel Kiely of Inishmore Square, Ballincollig, Co Cork.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies the murder and rape of Ms Kiely at the Regional Park, Ballincollig, Co Cork on 26 October 2000.

Dr Murphy told Mr Patrick J McCarthy SC for the prosecution that the gardai requested he attend the scene in Regional Park at 9pm on the night in question to examine the woman’s body. Her body was discovered lying in an area of heavy undergrowth near a ruined building.

"She was lying on her left hand side in a foetal position with her arms and legs slightly bent," Dr Murphy said. The doctor said the position was "too neat" for death to be due to natural causes. "It would be unusual to fall and land in this way," he said.

Dr Murphy observed that the fern leaves surrounding the body were "totally undisturbed" and seemed to have been manipulated to cover the woman’s remains.

"It looked like the body had not fallen, but was placed there, presumably dragged and the ferns were bent to cover the body," he said.

The doctor said that an exposed part of the body was cold to the touch, but where her clothing was intact she was "still quite warm". Dr Murphy pronounced Ms Kiely dead at 9.05pm. He estimated that the young woman had died three to five hours earlier, but in cross-examination said that he had not taken a body temperature and his estimate was "just a guess".

The trial before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury has been adjourned until next Tuesday.