Assault victim suffered 13 blows, court told

A 43 year-old Portuguese man who was found dead in a field near a New Age traveller’s campsite was the victim of a violent assault and suffered 13 separate blows to the head, a murder trial jury heard today.

The Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Marie Cassidy, was giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court on the 12th day of the trial of three Britons who are accused of the murder of Sergio Abru.

Dr Cassidy told the court that she carried out a post-mortem examination on the deceased and discovered he had been lying in a badly-injured condition in the field for some hours before he died.

However, the pathologist said that such were the extent of Mr Abru’s injures that it was unlikely he would have made a recovery if he had received medical intervention earlier.

“There was diffuse damage throughout the brain and he would not have made a good recovery even if he had been treated earlier,” she said.

Dr Cassidy identified “blunt force trauma” to the head as the main cause of death. She said the deceased suffered 13 separate blows to the head and face that resulted in a number of fractures to the skull and bleeding to the brain.

“The injuries could be due to a mixture of blows from a weapon, fists or kicks,” she said.

The defensive injuries to Mr Abru’s body suggested he was on the ground seeking to defend himself before being dragged to a field where he later died.

Dr Cassidy was shown a large steel bar recovered by gardaí and commented that while most of the injuries were “non specific” a weapon was used to cause the blunt force injury to the head.

She said the steel bar or some similar weapon could have caused such injuries.

Stuart Spicer, with an address at Ballyquin, c/o Ardmore Post Office; Steven Job, aged 31, of Whiting Bay, Ardmore, Co Waterford and Graeme Turnbull, aged 36, with an address at Ballyhooley Rd, Cork deny the murder of Mr Abru at Clashanahy, Ardmore, Co Waterford between September 6 and 7, 2002.

The trial continues tomorrow.