Woman breaks down as she tells of finding her slain brother’s body
THE older sister of a Co Armagh man murdered in his flat wept as she described the moment she discovered his lifeless body lying in a pool of blood.
The remains of Marcell Seeley were found in the living room of his flat on the morning of Tuesday October 13, 2015.
Concerns were raised by Mr Seeley’s mother that he hadn’t been seen for several days, prompting his sister Carrai Doran to call at his Dingwell Park home in the Taghnevan estate in Lurgan.
When she was not able to open the front door, Ms Doran asked neighbours for help. When the front door was pushed in, one man entered the flat before coming back out and telling Ms Doran: “You don’t want to see this.”
Breaking down in tears, Ms Doran told Belfast Crown Court that she pushed past the man, walked into the living room and ended up standing right beside her brother’s body.
Ms Doran said: “He was lying with his head turned away from the living room and there was blood on the back of his head, and down onto the floor. It (the blood) came from his head down. There was a pool of blood on the ground.”
She also said the blood was “plain to see”, and when asked if she checked to see if her brother was still alive, Ms Doran said: “I touched his hand and I knew straight away that he wasn’t.”
Standing trial for the murder of the 34-year old father-of-four is Mark Daniel Ward, who denies murdering Mr Seeley in or around October 11, 2015.
Ward (25), from Drumellan Gardens in the Moyraverty area of Craigavon, was interviewed by police a few days after Mr Seeley’s body was discovered.
He gave a largely “no comment” response during the interviews, but did confirm he knew Mr Seeley and had drank with him for around 10 years.
He also confirmed he had been in Mr Seeley’s flat, but refused to tell police the last time he was in the property.
It is the Crown’s case that Ward murdered Mr Seeley some time on the morning of Sunday October 11, 2015.
The victim — described in court as an alcoholic — died from blunt force trauma to the head consistent with kicking or stamping.
A pathologist concluded he would have survived for several hours after the head injuries were inflicted. He was also found to be almost three times the legal limit when he was attacked.
Crown prosecutor David McDowell QC said several footprints were left behind in the flat in either blood or spilt Buckfast wine, which left a very distinctive pattern.
A footprint on Mr Seeley’s shoulder resulted in bruising to the underlying muscle, which a pathologist concluded was caused “by a severe degree of force... such as a stamp”.
A footwear expert — who will be called to give evidence later in the trial — concluded that the footprint was caused by a size nine Base London trainer.
Mr McDowell said it was the Crown’s case that Ward was wearing a pair of size nine Base London trainers and that these shoes have never been recovered — something he said “may be a matter of significance in a case in which kicking and stamping and blood splattering is alleged”.
The prosecutor said Ward was also linked to Mr Seeley’s flat via DNA evidence on a cigarette butt in the living room.
At hearing.