Man pleads not guilty to murder of German woman

A 42-year-old Louth man has pleaded not guilty to the murder of a German tourist two years ago at the Central Criminal Court today.

The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies a charge of murder and a second charge, of a 28-year-old German woman at Dunore, Co Meath on an unknown date between 25 September and 17 October 2001.

The victim, who also cannot be named, was found dead in a patch of dense undergrowth some three weeks after she was reported missing on September 26. She arrived in Ireland from Germany on Friday September 21 and had stayed with a German friend in Dublin.

On the day of her disappearance, Tuesday September 25, she had taken a train alone up to Drogheda to visit Newgrange.

The alarm was raised the following morning by her friend who noticed she had not returned to Dublin in time for her flight home to Germany.

An extensive garda search operation was mounted, finally locating her body which was found lying face down and naked from the waist down in a remote patch of woodland near Dunore, Co Meath.

The accused was arrested on October 27, 2001 under Section Four of the Criminal Justice Act on suspicion of the murder of the German woman.

Opening the case for the prosecution Mr Dennis Buckley SC told the court that the victim was captured on CCTV in Drogheda town as she walked up from the train station towards Newgrange around 9.20am on September 25.

She was last seen alive by a witness walking on the road between Dunore and Drogheda at 11.05am.

"It's the prosecution's case that she never got to Newgrange" said Mr Buckley.

"None of the staff at Newgrange recognized her face when shown photos of her. Her clothes, bag and plane ticket were still there at her friends flat who raised the alarm."

When the victim's body was found by gardaí, her bag and glasses were also found in undergrowth on the opposite side of the road. A purse was also found in a ditch nearby. A Quartz watch, mobile phone and a pair of red shoes were found in a nearby skip and were later identified by the woman's sister as belonging to her.

Mr Buckley told the jury that three girls will give evidence that on the evening of September 25, 2001, they saw a man pull up in a car outside the entrance to a lane known locally as 'Mad Joe's Lane' and get out.

"They could see someone running up the road, running in the direction of where the body lay. The accused came back to the scene," he said.

"After about 15/20 minutes a person came back to where the black car was parked and drove off. Some 15/20 minutes later, he came back and stopped again at the scene at 'Mad Joe's Lane' as it's known locally," said Buckley. "That car was owned by the accused."

He told the court how the accused was working on the construction of the new Drogheda-Belfast road at the time and habitually gave a lift to the site to three Latvian men who worked with him.

"On that date, the men will testify that the accused did not come into the cabin for a break at 10 o'clock, as was the norm. Neither did he come into the cabin for the 1pm break. He never had a break at any time with them that day," he said.

He described how one witness saw the accused come out of the toilets with a white plastic bag containing some bleach or cleaning product.

"There was found to be a smell of Jeyes Fluid from the underwear of the victim. Her gortex jacket also smelt of bleach or Jeyes Fluid," said the prosecution counsel.

He made the case that the accused brought the Jeyes Fluid to the scene of the crime to destroy any forensic evidence.

The case continues before a jury of eight men and four women before Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan tomorrow.