Man accused of murdering Michael Foley in Macroom says his then partner Linda O'Flynn did it

Daniel Hourigan told court he found his former girlfriend 'freaking out' in Michael Foley's kitchen and deceased was lying on the floor and he saw a pool of blood

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

The man who denies murdering 61-year-old Michael Foley at his home in Macroom on Monday testified he did not carry out the murder but his then partner Linda O’Flynn did it.

Linda O’Flynn who is originally from the Hollyhill area of Cork City, is not a party to this trial.

Daniel Hourigan said he and Linda O’Flynn stayed in Michael Foley’s overnight and that he woke up to noise that sounded like the place being broken up and stuff being moved around. 

“I went in the door of the kitchen. I see Linda. She is freaking out, her hands on her head, not kind of making sense at first. I said, ‘Linda, what are you after doing?’ “Michael was on the floor. I saw the pool of blood,” the accused man testified. 

Ray Boland, defence senior counsel, said the deceased was at that time basically in the position that was described to the jury as being the position he was found when dead. The defendant replied this was correct.

“I said to Linda: ‘Ring an ambulance’. Linda turned around and said: There is no ambulance being rang’,” the defendant said.

He said he tried to lift Michael Foley from the floor to the couch but was unable to do so, so he put a cushion under his head. He said he checked for a pulse and there was a faint one. Mr Hourigan said Mr Foley’s pants were down from his waist so he put a jacket over Mr Foley.

“Linda was saying, ‘help me, help me’. I was wiping the floor with rags — tea towels. Linda was packing stuff, putting stuff into black bags… I went down to the toilet. When I came back, Linda was gone. I followed her out the door.” 

Describing how he felt on the bus, he said: “To be honest with you, a wave of emotions.” 

Asked how Linda was, he said: “It was like nothing had happened… she was talking to a girl at the back of the bus.” 

Asked about his comment at Bandon courthouse to Detective Garda Fintan Coffey after his first court appearance in February 2024: “Fintan, it was not pre-meditated,” Daniel Hourigan said on Monday: “That was referring to Linda and what she done to Michael… I had no knowledge she was going to murder Michael.” 

As for not ringing the ambulance — even later when he and Linda O’Flynn got back to Cork — the accused man was asked how he felt about that and he replied: “A bit cruel about it.” 

Jane Hyland, prosecution senior counsel, put various different versions that were described by Daniel Hourigan about the day in question and estimated the account he gave on Monday in court was the seventh different version.

Asked about things he said which he now accepted were untrue, he said he said them “to protect Linda”. He said he was protecting her at that time because she had told him that she was pregnant with his child. 

Ms Hyland said he was not protecting Linda, he was protecting himself. He said he had no knowledge of “the knife used to kill Michael Foley” being in a black plastic bag in the luggage compartment of the bus.

He said he got a threatening phone call from an unidentified person that he [Daniel Hourigan] “would be next if I did not keep Linda O’Flynn out of it”. 

During his evidence on Monday, Daniel Hourigan said: “I had no part or role in Michael’s murder.” 

Earlier on Monday in the trial, Detective Sergeant Danielle Hegarty confirmed when asked by Mr Boland for the defence that Linda O’Flynn was previously convicted — in an unrelated case — of going to the home of a man in Cork City with a hatchet in her bag and that she and a young man — not Daniel Hourigan — both used the hatchet to attack and injure the man in his home in January 2022.

The prosecution case is that Michael Foley was murdered on February 1, 2024, at his home in Annville, Barrett’s Place, Macroom. 33-year-old Daniel Hourigan, who is originally from Farranree in Cork City, pleaded not guilty to his murder.

Ms 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.