Signs of sexual assault on victim's body, court hears

There were signs of an attempted sexual assault on the body of a woman killed in a Cork flat, a court heard today.

State pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy told the Central Criminal Court that marks on Nora Kiely's body were "highly suggestive" of attempted penetration of her vagina.

Dr Cassidy told the court that Ms Kiely, aged 46, died from forceful compression of her neck, although she found no evidence of ligature marks.

Knife wounds found on Ms Kiely's body were likely to have been inflicted after her death by her assailants in an attempt to make her death look like suicide, Dr Cassidy said.

Ms Kiely was found dead in her Leitrim St flat on July 15, 2002.

Thomas Penkert, aged 21, and Brian Walsh, aged 22, who shared a flat in the same block as Ms Kiely, have pleaded not guilty to Ms Kiely's murder.

But they have both admitted robbing Ms Kiely of less than €20 in cash and two items of jewellery.

The two men denied a charge that they attempted to enter another flat in the building with intent to inflict grievous bodily harm on Teresa Tatton on July 15, 2002.

But they pleaded guilty to stealing a blue-handled knife, a tub of butter, some groceries and drinks and a phone charger from this address.

They pleaded not guilty to a charge that between July 8 and July 14 2002 they robbed Donal Scannell of less than €70 in cash.

The trial continues today before Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan and a jury of six men and six women.