Murder accused 'left flowers at scene of body's discovery'

Wayne O’Donoghue's girlfriend gave evidence today at the Central Criminal Court where he is on trial for the murder of Robert Holohan.

She described how he left flowers at the scene on the day that Robert Holohan’s body was found.

On that day, January 12 last, the man accused of murdering the eleven-year-old was with his girlfriend, Rebecca Dennehy.

Wayne O’Donoghue drove to the isolated area near Inch Strand where Robert’s remains were found eight days after his death. Rebecca Dennehy had bought flowers. She stayed in the car.

"Wayne got out and put the flowers down and said a prayer," she testified.

The accused got back into the car where Ms Dennehy said there was a dead silence.

Crying in the witness box, she said: "I love Wayne to bits. I still feel the same way about him today. I cannot comprehend how it happened. Wayne is such a good person. It broke my heart to hear it.

"Wayne always treated me like a queen from the day I met him. He was always there for me if I needed him any time day or night."

She described him as brilliant, caring and genuine. As a person she could not fault him.

After twelve days of thinking that her boyfriend was upset at the disappearance and death of Robert, Ms Dennehy was brought to Wayne O’Donoghue’s house before midnight on January 16 to hear that he was responsible for the boy’s death.

"He looked wrecked. He was tired from crying and he was still crying. He was shaking. It was horrible," she said.

Her impression was that Robert was like a younger brother to her boyfriend.

"Robert was hyperactive, typical eleven-year-old," she said.

She recalled the two of them doing typical boyish things like playing Playstation. She noticed a difference in Wayne O’Donoghue’s relationship with her after January 4, where he was less talkative, less inclined to hug and hold hands.

Detective Garda Thomas Carey testified today that the body was found in an area of steep ground heavily covered with briars and brambles.

From the roadside there was a five-foot grassy verge and then a drop of almost ten to twelve feet before a more gradual decline.

"The tail of the T-shirt was outside the tracksuit bottoms. I noticed what appeared to be burning on the tail of the T-shirt," Det. Garda Carey said.

After the preliminary forensic examination at the scene, the body of Robert Holohan was placed in a body bag and removed to Cork University Hospital.

Evidence of burning was also found on the waist band of the boy’s underpants and the waist band of the track suit bottoms. He described it as slight burning.

Robert's mother, Majella Holohan, also cried during this evidence.