Man died in circumstances of 'almost indescribable savagery', court hears
Mr O'Leary had been stabbed 27 times, including on both sides of the chest, in the abdomen, neck, left eye, genitals, and anus.
A man died in circumstances of "almost indescribable savagery" involving "serious sexual violence", having had one eye removed from its socket and a knife inserted in his anus, a barrister has told a jury at the Central Criminal Court.
Dean Kelly SC today opened the trial of Liam O'Leary (33), who denies the murder of 58-year-old John Casserly at a Peter McVerry Trust housing unit on Tone St, Ballina, Co Mayo, between October 23 and 24, 2024.
Mr Kelly told the jury of nine men and three women that the deceased was born in Wigan in 1965 to parents from Mayo.
They moved to Knock in Mayo in 1983. When Mr Casserly grew up, he moved to the US for about 15 years but returned to Mayo and settled in Ballina in 2014 until the time of his death.
He lived at Tone House, an apartment building operated by the Peter McVerry charity. He did not know the accused until a few weeks before his death, Mr Kelly said.
They struck up a friendship and when Mr O'Leary needed a place to stay, Mr Casserly took him into his one-bed apartment.
The day leading up to Mr Casserly's death was "unextraordinary", Mr Kelly said, but that evening neighbours heard arguing from their apartment.
At about 11.45pm, Mr O'Leary knocked on a neighbour's door, followed a short time later by Mr Casserly. Matters became "fraught", Mr Kelly said, and the neighbour fled out onto the street.
Mr Kelly said that what happened next is that Mr Casserly "met his death in circumstances of almost indescribable savagery".
When gardaí breached the door of the apartment at about 12.50am, they found Mr Casserly lying naked on the ground, face up, with Mr O'Leary standing over him, clothed.
Mr Casserly had been stabbed 27 times, including on both sides of the chest, in the abdomen, neck, left eye, genitals, and anus.
He had suffered multiple blunt force and incised wounds to his trunk, arms, and legs, Mr Kelly said.
His left eye had been removed and all the bones on the left side of his face were fractured.
State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers removed a blade that had been inserted through Mr Casserly's mouth, into the bony part of the palate and the base of the skull.
The pathologist also removed a knife from Mr Casserly's anus.
Mr Kelly said Dr Okkers will say that Mr Casserly died from multiple sharp force injuries along with blunt force trauma.
Counsel called on the jury to set prejudice, outrage, and sympathy aside.
He said it would be normal and natural, considering the evidence of "serious sexual violence", to have the "most profound sympathy for John Casserly and his family".
It would also, he said, be normal to have sympathy for Mr O'Leary, sitting in "as lonely a seat as you could imagine".
However, he said their job will be to consider the evidence coldly and dispassionately without prejudice or sympathy.
The trial continues before the jury and Ms Justice Melanie Greally.
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