Court hears forensic evidence in murder trial

Blood found on the shoe of a 19-year-old man on trial for murder matched that of a man who died after being subjected to a “beyond terrifying” assault, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

The jury in the trial of Michael Cruise was told that blood found on the laces of his Nike runners was 29-year-old Darren McKeown's, who died from a severe head injury days after being attacked at a Christmas party in Drogheda.

Eye-witnesses have told the court of the “terrifying” assault, during which Mr McKeown was kicked in the head and beaten on a green area and in the driveway of a house in the Rowan Heights estate, on Christmas night and St Stephen's morning 2007.

Cruise, of Donore Avenue, Ballsgrove in Drogheda, has pleaded not guilty to the murder. A 21-year-old woman is also on trial for the murder and denies the charge along with Cruise.

Louise Wall, of Cranmore, Clogherhead and Cruise have also both denied a second count of violent disorder.

The prosecution argues that the case is one of alleged joint enterprise. Seven people in total admitted to gardaí to assaulting Darren McKeown that night.

The jury has been told that the attack began after Mr McKeown was seen hitting a woman he had been arguing with, during a Christmas Day house party. After that, the woman's teenage son and his friends all planned to give Mr McKeown “a beating”.

They began kicking him in the kitchen of the house, then followed him outside to the green where they kicked and stamped on his head as he lay on the ground. When he struggled to get up, one of the youths pushed him and he fell, hitting his head full force off the concrete.

He was taken back into the driveway, where the assault continued. He was again kicked in the head and ribs, before the emergency services were called and found him bleeding and unconscious.

Mr McKeown's cause of a death was a severe head injury. He also had brain damage, extensive bruising to the scalp and a broken jaw.

Following her arrest, Wall told gardaí that she kicked Mr McKeown in the head, and stamped on his head and chest. She also said she hit him twice in the side of the head with a glass ashtray.

Gardaí put it to her that you wouldn't “do it to a dog” and asked why she had participated. She said it was because she had been drinking spirits and was annoyed Mr McKeown had tried to kiss her, and because she had seen him hit the woman.

In his interviews, Cruise admitted to he giving Mr McKeown two to three “good kicks” in the head. He said he joined in because the son of the woman who'd been hit kept annoying him too.

Mr McKeown's family broke down as the court was shown the bloodstained hooded top and tracksuit pants that he had been wearing.

Bloodstained jeans and runners that Louise Wall had worn were also exhibited. Forensic expert Linda Williams agreed with Wall's defence lawyer, Mr Brendan Grehan SC, that no attempt had been made to wash them.

She told the jury DNA testing revealed that blood found on runners belonging to Michael Cruise, was Darren McKeown's. There was no blood on Cruise's clothes, but the jury was told the absence of blood “may not be significant if these clothes had been washed”.

The case resumes tomorrow afternoon when the prosecution is expected to conclude its evidence.