Macroom murder trial: Jury shown CCTV of deceased and other relevant parties around town

Court heard gardaí analysed CCTV from multiple cameras around Macroom on January 31 and February 1 2024

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

CCTV covering relevant parties in the Macroom murder trial was shown to the judge and jury throughout Tuesday.

Detective Garda Brian Morris described the harvesting and analysis of CCTV from multiple cameras at commercial and other premises around Macroom, in particular on January 31 and February 1, 2024.

The footage included video of the deceased in Macroom town during the day and early evening of January 31. It also showed parties arriving by bus from Cork into Macroom on the evening of January 31 and leaving the following morning.

The trial will resume with evidence from the witness box on Wednesday at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

61-year-old Michael Foley was found dead on February 5, 2024, lying in a pool of blood in his home at Annville, Barrett’s Place, Macroom.

Dr Margaret Bolster assistant state pathologist told Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford and the six men and six women of the jury in the Macroom murder trial on Monday the injuries could have been inflicted by the long carving knife.

Dr Bolster said the wounds she found on Mr Foley included 11 stab wounds, five of which were to the left arm, four to the chest, one to the abdomen and one to the thigh. Describing the 19 slash or incised wounds, Dr Bolster said 12 were to the forehead and seven were to the left elbow and arm.

One of the stab wounds pierced Mr Foley’s right lung, leading to its collapse, and one of the slash wounds penetrated his skull and caused the loss of a lot of blood. She said there was no evidence any one slash wound alone caused death in this case. She said it was a combination of all the stab and slash injuries that led to death of Michael Foley.

“Slash wounds and stab wounds led to extensive haemorrhage and death,” she said.

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 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.

The trial continues.