Man accused of murdering woman with lump hammer

A man accused of murdering a woman with a lump hammer after she bit his penis, wrapped her body up in bedclothes and left it outside his flat, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard today.

John O'Neill (aged 57) from Mercer House flats, Mercer Street, Dublin, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter but not guilty to the murder of Rosemary Dowling (aged 49), at his flat between October 24 and 25, 2005.

Her naked body was found wrapped in bedclothes near his flat in the early hours of October 25th.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Mr Gerard Clarke SC, said Mr O'Neill told gardaí he and the victim were engaging in sexual activity when she bit his penis.

Mr Clarke said there was some evidence of an injury to the accused’s penis and that he told gardaí it was this that caused him to get the lump hammer and hit her across the head.

However, he rejected the defence's claim that the accused was so provoked that it caused him to temporarily lose control of himself.

He said provocation as defined by Law does not include losing one's temper. And he said this case therefore did not "fall within the definition of provocation as defined by law".

Post-mortem results showed Ms Dowling died following 14 separate blows to the head with a lump hammer. Her skull was fractured in three locations. One blow penetrated right into her brain and these injuries caused death.

In addition he said Ms Dowling had a cut to her throat and embedded in that cut was a piece of blade, the matching part of which was later found in John O'Neill's flat.

Mr Clarke said Ms Dowling, from Home Villas in Donnybrook, ran a second hand record shop on Aungier Street.

At around 7.45pm on Monday October 24, a passer-by called David Hurley, saw Ms Dowling, whom he knew to see, locking up the shop while talking to another man.

While both of them appeared to have taken some drink, "the lady seemed to have more taken," and both were talking loudly.

He said it looked like the woman had wanted to go for a drink in the Swan pub and that the man was refusing.

Mr Clarke said the next time anyone noticed anything unusual was when a woman looked out of her window between 3 and 3.15 am when she smelled smoke. She noticed a fire and what looked like a bundle of sheets or bedclothes on the ground. She thought it looked like a body, but dismissed the idea and went back to bed.

Another witness said he noticed an armchair on fire and saw a man coming down with clothes and throwing them onto the chair. Later the woman who had gone back to bed heard the voices of people who had found what turned out to be Rosemary Dowling's body.

Gardaí believed later identified the body from dental records.

The jury is expected to hear evidence that on the afternoon of Friday the 28th October O'Neill called to Harcourt Terrace garda station where he spoke to a Detective Superintendent and confessed: "I killed that girl."

A neighbour of the accused, Anthony Hollywood, said he had been standing on his balcony at the Mercer House flats when he saw O'Neill, whom he had known for over 20 years, walk across the courtyard with a lady.

He said O'Neill looked like he had a few drinks on him and that the two appeared to be "in good spirits."

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr Brendan Grehan SC, Mr Hollywood said O'Neill was "an obliging fellow" who would not be known as anybody who could have done what happened in this case.

He said O'Neill used to help other neighbours by doing bits of D.I.Y. for them and that neighbours with children used to ask him to mind Christmas presents in his flat so they wouldn't find them.

O'Neill used to drink "a lot and often" and they would sometimes drink together, he said. But he said O’Neill was known as someone "quiet and kind" rather than violent.

The trial before Mr Justice Paul Carney and a jury of ten men and two women continues today/tomorrow.