Man pleads not guilty to murdering Galway teen

A 24 year-old Dublin man who alerted gardai to a "grizzly scene" where his homeless teenage girlfriend had been “viciously strangled” was later arrested and charged with her murder, a jury at the Central Criminal Court heard today.

Phillip Reddin, originally from Donamore Park, Tallaght, Dublin, now of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of 17 year-old Niamh Murphy, who was originally from Galway, at a house in Pembroke Road, Ballsbridge on May 10, 2002.

Opening the case Mr Paul O’Higgins SC for the prosecution told the court that on the afternoon in question the accused man was in a distressed state when he approached a garda on duty outside the American Embassy in Ballsbridge.

The accused told the garda, "I went and came back - she’s dead, her throat is cut and there is blood everywhere", Mr O’Higgins continued.

The gardaí were alerted to a derelict house in Pembroke Road where the accused had been squatting in what was described as "squalid and sordid" conditions with Ms Murphy for some time.

Ms Murphy, who was from Galway had left her home the previous year and was living rough between hostels and abandoned houses in Dublin at the time of her death.

The accused man brought gardaí to the scene where Ms Murphy was found "in a gruesome and grisly state, covered in blood".

While at the scene the accused "displayed great emotion and horror" and told gardai he would like to say goodbye to the deceased.

Garda Claude O’Carroll gave evidence of attending at the scene with Mr Reddin who “approached the body and started hugging her”.

“He was saying ‘wake up’ and 'why did you have to go away’,” Garda O’Carroll said.

Garda Declan McDaid told the court that he when he persuaded Reddin to leave the room so that the scene could be preserved he made a note of dry blood on his arms and hands that “looked like it had rolled from his hands to his arms”.

The accused agreed to make a voluntary statement to gardaí in which he alleged having left the premises earlier in the day with "three bums" and came back to find Ms Murphy dead.

He added to the statement that he had “picked up and thrown away” a garden shears that was lying near Ms Murphy’s body when he discovered her body.

CCTV uncovered during the subsequent garda investigation showed three other people leaving the house on the morning of May 10 without Mr Reddin.

The post mortem examination carried out by the Deputy State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy also showed that the deceased had in fact been "violently strangled" before her throat was cut with a garden shears.

"This led gardaí to the growing suspicion that Phillip Reddin was liable to be the person who committed the crime," Mr O’Higgins told the court.

Reddin was arrested in June 2002 and made statements to gardaí in which he admitted having a row with Ms Murphy in the house on the day in question.

He told gardaí that "everything was a blur and the next thing he knew she was dead," Mr O’Higgins said.

He added that the prosecution evidence will be that the accused "drew the shears across her neck" at least two times because he knew that some other person’s fingerprints were on the shears.

"This might fog things up and confuse the case," he said.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury.