Accused in Phoenix Park murder 'said he would torture victim'

A man on trial for the murder of a homeless man in the Phoenix Park allegedly said he would batter and torture him because he had money.

Ciaran Moran, with an address at Camden Street in Dublin, denies killing Gerard Donnelly in November 2013.

The jury has heard homeless man Gerard Donnelly had over €8,000 in cash and €140,000 in an EBS account weeks before his death.

Gardaí found his beaten body on fire in the Phoenix Park in the early hours of November 29, 2013.

A toe on his left foot had been amputated.

An acquaintance, Eamonn Flynn, gave evidence that many people would have known Gerard Donnelly had money, but Ciaran Moran was the only person who expressed how to get it - by battering and torturing the 36-year-old.

The jury heard the accused bought a bicycle, Dre Beats headphones, and a new phone on the day the body was discovered, and told a friend he had acquired money from the death of his father.