Forensic scientist tells Walsh trial of DNA evidence

DNA matching both Meg Walsh and her husband John O’Brien, currently on trial in the Central Criminal Court for her murder, was found in the boot of her car the jury in his trial have heard.

The 35-year-old mother-of one’s body was recovered from the River Suir on October 15th 2006, after being missing for two weeks. She had died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Her husband, bus driver Mr O’Brien (aged 41) with an address in Ballinakill Downs, Co Waterford denies murdering her on a date between October 1-15, 2006 somewhere within the State.

Michael Burlington, a forensic scientist, told Mr Dominic McGinn BL, prosecuting, that DNA matching both Ms Walsh and Mr O’Brien was found in the boot. Blood found in Ms Walsh’s Mitsubishi Charisma matched her profile with a probability of more than one in one billion.

Fellow scientist, Ms Marcy Lee Gorman told Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that blood was found heavily staining the mat from the boot of the Charisma which was found near the Uluru pub car park where the car was found abandoned.

Her blood was also found on the hardboard spare wheel cover, which had also been thrown away and sections cut from both the hardboard and the mat which were found in a nearby housing estate.

There were also patches of Ms Walsh’s blood on the back of the driver’s seat and the inside of the driver’s door.

Ms Lee Gorman said Ms Walsh’s blood was also found on the rear bumper of the car and the door pillar on the driver’s side. Attempts had been made to wipe the blood away in some places.

She said that Ms Walsh’s blood was also found on a diamante ring found at the house although she agreed with defence counsel Mr Paddy McCarthy that there was no way of telling when or how that blood had come to be on the ring or when the ring was last worn.

She agreed with Mr McCarthy that no blood was found in a detailed search of the house or the garden shed or dog house.

Mr Burlington said that a mixed blood match was found along the edge formed when the section of the hardboard wheel cover was cut away was a full match with Ms Walsh and also contained elements all of which were found in Mr O’Brien’s profile.

However, Ms Lee Gorman agreed with Mr McCarthy that the blood could have got on this cut edge perfectly innocently.

“It just soaked through.”

Mr Burlington agreed that it was entirely possible that Mr O’Brien’s DNA had got into the boot of the Charisma in innocent circumstances.

Mr Burlington said that both Mr O’Brien’s and Ms Walsh’s DNA was found on samples taken from un-bloodstained parts of the boot.

He agreed that the edge section he had tested which yielded a mixed profile came from fragments of both stained and unstained hardboard.

He also said that other unidentified partial profiles had been found on the unstained parts of the boot, but agreed that these were not suspicious.

The trial continues on tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White and the jury of seven men and five women. It is expected to enter its closing stages by the end of this week.