Accused denies murdering man whose body was found in boot

A 27-year-old man has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court accused of murdering another man whose blood-covered body was found in the boot of a car in a north Dublin laneway last year.

Stephen Penrose, of no fixed abode, has denied murdering David Sharkey on May 17, 2009 at Parkview, Blackcastle, Navan Co Meath.

The 28-year-old was stabbed 10 times.

The accused has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but the Director of Public Prosecutions has refused to accept the plea and the murder trial is underway before a jury of five men and seven women.

Lawyers for the State told the jury that they would hear evidence that would satisfy them “as to the guilt of Stephen Penrose, not of manslaughter, but of the crime of murder”.

Senior counsel for the prosecution, Mr Paul Green SC told them that at around 8.30pm on the evening of May 17 last year, David Sharkey arrived at an apartment in Parkview in Navan in his BMW.

He said it was the State's case that he had been invited to go there by the woman who was a tenant in the apartment “at the behest of Stephen Penrose” to take part in a drug deal. The jury was told that the woman is not before the court.

Mr Sharkey was to show up with one ounce of a controlled drug and then a transaction was to take place, the court heard.

But 10 to 15 minutes after the deceased arrived, Mr Penrose and a woman were seen leaving the apartment, carrying what appeared to be a body covered with a wrapping.

Mr Green said it was the State's case that an argument erupted between Mr Sharkey and Mr Penrose, during which the accused produced a knife and stabbed the deceased.

Later that evening, at around 9.30pm, two gardaí who were on patrol at Dunsink Lane in Finglas stopped a man driving a BMW near the halting site on the lane.

He identified himself to gardaí as John Daly, “but it's the prosecution's case that the man was in fact Stephen Penrose” Mr Green told the jury.

Gardaí allowed him to drive on, but followed him and became concerned when he left the car parked in an unusual way, and on seeing the gardaí again, fled from the scene.

On searching the car, gardaí found David Sharkey's body in the boot, covered in blood. They also established that the BMW was his.

Two days later, Mr Penrose was arrested in Navan.

The trial is due to resume in the morning and is expected to last two weeks before Mr Justice Paul Carney.