Elderly man died of internal bleeding: Harbison

An elderly man found dead in his sheltered accommodation home died from massive internal bleeding after being kicked and stamped in the stomach, a murder trial jury heard at the Central Criminal court today.

Mr Joseph O’Doherty (aged 74) also sustained four fractures to his skull, a broken nose, fractures to a neck bone, both cheek bones, his upper jaw and to eleven ribs on both sides, according to former State pathologist Dr John Harbison.

Dr Harbison was giving evidence on the first day of the trial of Mr Darren Cunneen (aged 28) of Clare Street, Limerick for the murder of Mr Joseph O’Doherty at his home in Good Shepherd Avenue, Pennywell, Limerick city on December 13 2001.

Mr Cunneen denies the charge of murder but has pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Dr Harbison noted during his preliminary examination of Mr O’Doherty’s body at the scene that “the trousers had been pulled down below the deceased’s knees but the socks and shoes were still on”.

He also noted there were marks on the deceased’s stomach which “appeared to me to be foot marks, and I formed an opinion that it appeared to be from jumping”.

He told the court that his post-mortem examination revealed that several small arteries in the supporting tissues of the intestines were torn and bleeding and he found over a litre of blood in the stomach.

He concluded Mr O’Doherty died from internal bleeding of the intestinal tissues coupled “with multiple head, neck, chest and abdominal injuries”.

Earlier, Mr Alex Owens SC, opening the case for the prosecution, told the jury that the accused went to Mr O’Doherty’s home in a sheltered accommodation complex for elderly people around 1am Thursday December 13, 2001.

“He was admitted and at that stage Mr O’Doherty was subjected to a violent and sustained assault beginning in the hallway and continuing in a bedroom,” said Mr Owens.

“The deceased sustained a broken nose to the extent a bone from his nose was jutting out,” he said. Dr Harbison later confirmed he found a “tiny bone fragment sticking out of his nose”.

Mr Owens contended that the elderly man died from an assault with “a blunt instrument: the accused’s boot". There were two blood – impressions of the sole of the accused’s boot in the abdomen”, he told the jury.

“The injuries on the abdomen were consistent with the deceased being stamped on while on the ground” he added. The panic alarm in the house was raised at 3.50am and Mr O’Doherty was found lying under a pile of clothes in the bedroom by a security man on call.

“He will say a person came out of the living room and ran off,” Mr Owens told the jury. “At some stage between 1am and 3.50am the accused visited the deceased and the murderous assault took place,” he said.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of nine women and three men.