Timothy Hourihane's killing - The evidence that led to a conviction
Timothy Hourihane was pronounced dead at 2.16am on October 13, 2019.
Timothy Hourihane's final moments were captured on CCTV, as he walked through Cork city with friends before returning to the camp alone after 12am, carrying a plastic bag in one hand and a drink in the other.
Some 60 seconds before his return, James Brady, the 28-year-old convicted of his manslaughter, was seen walking into the camp off Mardyke Walk, with a man who cannot be named for legal reasons and a woman, Kathleen O'Brien.
The court heard from an Indian couple who were walking past the area at 12.20am. Tarini Ghosh was working in UCC in 2019 and lived with his wife, Bijoylakshmi Nandi, near Mardyke Walk at the time.
They said that they saw a younger man, whose description could match Mr Brady's, standing with a man and a woman. CCTV also placed Mr Brady at the scene at that time. It appeared as if this younger man was waiting for someone, they said.
They said that this younger man, who the State contends was Mr Brady, started pointing aggressively and shouting at the older man carrying a plastic bag.
Mr Ghosh said that he was frightened and they walked on past to their home nearby. Although they said that they saw some pushing, they did not see anyone on the ground.
Minutes later, three people, described as 'Good Samaritans' by the court, stopped to help when they saw a large fire burning angrily on a tent, its flames threatening to set fire to the nearby tree.
Cian Duggan and Kieran Stanley ran to Mr Hourihane who was “covered in dark, sticky blood” and was “gurgling on the ground near the burning tent. Nicole Srock Stanley ran to the burning tents to try to help anyone who might be inside. Finding no one in there, she tried to put out the flames.
They called emergency services which arrived quickly and tended to Mr Hourihane and put out the fire. Paramedics said that Mr Hourihane had no pulse at this stage but they tried to keep him alive until he reached Cork University Hospital and medics there could take over.
He was pronounced dead there at 2.16am.
Blood-soaked grass, a blood-spattered wall and broken teeth were found at the scene. Blood spatters were also found on a fence and on a Centra bag containing a soft drink can and beer can at the crime scene.
State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster, who carried out the autopsy on Mr Hourihane, said that his cause of death was inhalation of blood with extensive bleeding in his lungs due to severe, blunt-force head and facial trauma with a traumatic cardiac arrest complicated by brain swelling and a lack of blood supply to the brain.
She said that a large amount of blood was found in his larynx, pharynx, trachea and lungs. He would have been “gurgling” as he struggled to get air into his lungs with a trachea full of fluid, she said. He suffered the most severe injuries to his face and head, including a broken nose, a broken jaw bone and extensive bleeding.
Some cuts reached down to the bone, she said.
A key witness for the State was Kathleen O'Brien who said that she had been with the defendant and another man throughout the attack. She said that Mr Hourihane was attacked "for no other reason than that he was gay".
She said that she threw herself over Mr Brady to try to protect him as the two men stamped on his head and legs while she begged them to stop.
Paula O'Shea, who also lived in the 'tented village' off Mardyke Walk at the time said that she left the camp that night with her then-boyfriend, Adrian Henry, because the atmosphere had become so tense.
While she was sitting on a bench in the Mardyke Walk area, she said that she saw two men kicking another man as he lay on the ground. Although the figures were silhouetted, she believed that the men allegedly attacking were Mr Brady and an unnamed man.
Her then-partner, Adrian Henry, initially refused to give evidence in court so his statements previously given to gardaí were read out. In them, he had told gardaí that he believed Mr Brady had been the main aggressor in the attack.
But he then told the court that this had been a lie, that Mr Brady had in fact tried to pull another man off him during the fatal attack, repeatedly saying “that’s enough”.
He said that he initially "put Mr Brady in the frame" because Mr Brady had allegedly threatened to kill him and slit his throat over a damaged tent.
Blood-soaked grass, a blood-spattered wall and broken teeth were found at the scene of Cork chef Timmy Hourihane’s alleged murder. Blood spatters were also found on a fence and on a Centra bag containing a soft drink and beer can at the crime scene, the Central Criminal Court heard.
Forensic scientist John Hoade told the court that transfer blood-stains were found on the tongue and around the laces of Mr Brady's right shoe. Transfer bloodstains matching Mr Hourihane's DNA were also found on the cuffs of Mr Brady's jacket and blood spatter stains were found on his tracksuit pants.
Transfer bloodstains were left when the surface came into direct contact with a blood-bearing surface, he said.
Vincent Heneghen, SC for the defence, said that video evidence proved that Mr Brady kicks with his left foot – not his right and that there was not enough blood on his shoes and clothes to be consistent with reports that he was stamping on Mr Hourihane's bloodied head and body.
Heavy bloodstains were found on the leggings and blood had seeped through the underwear of Ms O'Brien, which the State said was consistent with her account of putting her body over Mr Hourihane to try to protect him from the blows.
In extensive statements given by Mr Brady to gardaí which were recorded during the investigation and read to and played by video to the court, Mr Brady denied killing Mr Hourihane.
He voluntarily went to gardaí hours after the killing on October 13, 2019, and said that he witnessed the fatal assault. He said that he loved Mr Hourihane and "trusted him with his life" after spending time in addiction treatment centres with him.
He said that although other people in the camp may have had problems with Mr Hourihane's sexuality, he never did and always accepted him for who he was. However, he admitted that he initially lied to gardaí when he repeatedly insisted that Mr Hourihane had never made any sexual advances on him.
He later admitted that Mr Hourihane had tried to lie on top of him one night in his tent and that he had spoken to Mr Henry about it the following day.
Prosecution barrister, Siobhan Lankford SC, asked why he would go to another man, viewed as an authority or 'hard man' in the camp, to complain about Mr Hourihane's advances if they really were such good friends as Mr Brady had claimed.
When the jury retired to consider their verdict, Justice Murphy warned them to clinically analyse and weigh all the evidence brought forward throughout the trial.
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