Cork murder trial draws to a close
The jury at the murder trial in Cork are expected to retire to consider their verdict tomorrow as the two-week trial draws to a close.
Mr Justice Paul Carney will conclude his address to the seven men and five women of the jury at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork for the first time in the history of the state.
Frank Cunningham, aged 20, from 71 Bridevalley View, Fairhill, Cork, has pleaded not guilty to charges of murdering Patrick Walsh at the deceased’s home at 62 Fair Hill Drive, Cork, and robbery of cash from the late Mr Walsh in May last year.
The jury will be asked to consider their verdicts on both of those counts. Mr Walsh was stabbed four times in the head and six times in the neck with a knife and scissors and was heard to call out for his mother before he died from his multiple wounds.
That was part of the evidence presented by assistant State pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, during the trial.She testified that there was evidence of considerable force being used during the stabbing and that one of the wounds was to the victim’s right hand, consistent with an attempt to defend himself.
Denis Vaughan Buckley senior counsel for the prosecution said: “The motive for the murder was robbery, a sum of cash was stolen from the deceased.”
Laura Heaphy testified that her then boyfriend, Frank Cunningham, telephoned her and. “He told me about Patrick Walsh, that him (Cunningham) and two other fellas went to the house for money, that they killed him but they didn’t mean to,” Ms Heaphy said.
The jury watched a video of Cunningham being interviewed by gardai in which the accused said that he stabbed the deceased, punched him twice and stabbed him again.
The detective asked on the video: “Do you think Pa was dead before you left the room?”
Cunningham said: “Yeah… Because you could hear him choking to death and everything. Blood was just gushing out of him. I knew he was dead.
Ciaran O’Loughlin senior counsel for the defence said of the recorded interview with the accused, “He was very much the worse for wear from drug abuse. Did you not see he was out of his head?”
Detective Garda Dave O’Callaghan said: “At no stage did I feel he was not paying attention or was out of it. I thought he was completely aware of what was going on.”
