Limerick man gets life for murder

A Limerick man has been given a life sentence after being found guilty of murdering another man by throwing him into the River Shannon two years ago.

Kevin Coughlan (aged 29), of Avondale Drive, Greystones, Limerick had pleaded not guilty to murdering Francis Greene at Steamboat Quay on a date unknown between November 28 and November 29, 2009.

But a jury of 10 men and two women returned a majority verdict of guilty after three hours and 25 minutes of deliberation following a three-week trial at the Central Criminal Court.

He was found guilty by unanimous verdict of the false imprisonment of Mr Greene between Lower Hartstonge Street and Steamboat Quay in Limerick on November 28, 2009.

Coughlan was also found guilty unanimously of assaulting Roy Finn, a man who was staying with Mr Greene, and of the production of a knife during that assault at Lower Hartstonge Street on 28 November, 2009.

The court heard the body of the 47-year-old former general operative was found six weeks later on a bank of the River Shannon on farming land at Portrine, Co. Clare on February 5, 2010.

Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy thanked the jury before discharging them for a period of 10 years.

He told the jury the sentence for murder is mandatory but Coughlan had to be sentenced in respect of the other three charges on January 30 next.

Mr Paddy McCarthy SC, prosecuting, told the judge a victim impact report had to be prepared by the family before that sentencing.

Coughlan had told Gardaí Mr Greene jumped into the river, but he thought he would swim out and denied pushing him in saying: “The only thing I’m guilty of is not going in after him.”

During the trial video footage of an interview of the accused’s ex-girlfriend Lyndsey Collopy was played in which she said Coughlan came up to her apartment on the night in question and told her he pushed Mr Greene into the water.

Deputy State Pathologist Khalid Jabbar gave a cause of death of asphyxiation and said there was evidence of strangulation from broken bones inside the neck and from teeth marks or indentations on the tongue.

Defence witness Dr Basil Nigel Purdue, a UK-based pathologist responding to Dr Jabbar said broken bones in the neck structure could have been caused by its removal during autopsy and it was impossible to give a cause of death.

Dr Purdue said teeth could leave an impression on the tongue of a body which is flaccid and has been present in tidal water but it would “never” lead him to the conclusion the person was strangled saying: “that is a bridge far too far”.

Toxicology samples showed there was a level of 80 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood, 120 milligrammes of alcohol per 100 millilitres of urine, and also said the urine sample tested positive for amphetamine.

Mr Anthony Sammon SC defending told the jury his client said Mr Greene jumped into the river and he said that fitted in with evidence of his suicide ideation, impulsive behaviour and the amphetamine found in his system in the toxicology report.