Prosecution concludes questioning in tourist murder trial

Prosecution evidence in the trial of a Louth man accused of murdering a German woman in 2001 concluded at the Central Criminal court today.

The jury of seven men and five women heard testimony from the last of almost 200 witnesses in the murder trial of Mr Michael Murphy (aged 42) of Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth.

Defence counsel Mr Patrick MacEntee SC confirmed there would be no defence witnesses called.

Closing speeches on both sides will be heard by the jury tomorrow.

Mr Murphy is pleading not guilty to the murder of Ms Bettina Poeschel (aged 28) at Donore, Co Meath on a date on or between 25 September and 17 October 2001.

Ms Poeschel’s badly decomposed remains were found lying in dense undergrowth in a copse at Donore some three weeks after her disappearance.

Detective Garda Michael Waugh from the Garda Technical Bureau testified that he could find no fingerprints on a dark grey Siemens mobile phone and battery found in a skip taken from the new motorway construction site at Donore on 24 October 2001.

He told prosecution counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that he examined the phone and the battery for fingerprints but none were found.

The phone was found wrapped in blue towelling paper.

Ms Poeschel’s younger sister, Cornelia, testified earlier in the trial that the phone was similar to one belonging to her sister.

The jury heard on Monday that Mr Murphy’s DNA matched the semen found on the body of Ms Poeschel.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Aindrias O’Caoimh.