Eyewitnesses describe the scene of Michael Foley's death to court in Cork

The court also heard that  a palm print on the architrave of a door frame at the home of Michael Foley matched the palm print of the accused

Michael Foley was found dead in his home in Macroom between January 31 and February 1, 2024.

Eyewitnesses to how a 61-year-old man was found dead at his home in a pool of blood on the floor told the judge and jury in the murder trial on Friday what they found.

The prosecution said 61-year-old Michael Foley was murdered at his home in Annville, Barrett’s Place in Macroom on February 1, 2024. 32-year-old Daniel Hourigan who is originally from Farranree in Cork City pleaded not guilty to his murder.

Prosecution senior counsel Jane Hyland explained what was meant by the response to the murder charge made by the accused when he said: “Not guilty of murder but guilty of assisting an offender under Section 7 Subsection 2 of the Criminal Law Act 1997.” 

She said that in non-legal language, “what that means is that he is saying to you that he helped another person when they committed an offence to prevent them being caught,” but that he is not guilty of murder.

Detective Garda James O’Sullivan testified on Friday at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork, that he attended at the scene as soon as it was reported to him on February 6, 2024. He put on full protective PPE gear as part of his scenes of crime training and entered the house.

“The deceased was lying on the sitting room floor in front of the couch. There was a lot of blood,” the detective said. As part of his job he took a lot of photographs.

“He was lying on his right-hand side. He had significant wounds to his head. There was a lot of congealed blood. Significant gashes to the front of his head. A jacket draped across his waist. He was lying on pillows, I would say they were taken down from the couch, under his head.

“There was a serious gash on his left wrist, a slash wound on his left hand, a serious gash to his left ear, a gash to the front his head as well. When I say gash I mean slash wound.” 

Cross-examined by defence senior counsel, Ray Boland, the witness confirmed that there was a cushion between the late Mr Foley’s face and the floor.

Forensically examining the area, Dr Yvonne O’Dowd described an impact pattern bloodstaining to the wall behind the deceased.

“This was 50cm above the floor, 160cm across the wall, to a height of 185cm from the floor… bloodstaining from an object making impact with blood.” 

Dr Craig Mullen, a fingerprint expert with Forensic Science Ireland, testified that he found that a palm print on the architrave of a door frame at the home of Michael Foley matched the palm print of Daniel Hourigan.

An expert in ridge analysis in fingerprints and palm prints, Dr Mullen examined a palm taken from the architrave of the door leading to the double bedroom in the deceased’s home and he found it matched a palm print they had taken from the defendant.

The trial before Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford and a jury of six men and six women continues.