Distress for family on picnic af ter finding the torso of dead body
Witness tells of discovering what looked like ‘piece of a pig’ in a ditch in mountains
A FAMILY has told how they were alarmed and distressed to come across the upper torso of a dead person while they were in the Wicklow mountains for a picnic.
They were giving evidence in the trial of Kieran Greene, who is alleged to have killed 61year-old retired hospital worker Patricia O’Connor, and to have scattered her dismembered body parts across the mountains.
Mr Greene, 34, formerly of Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms O’Connor, the mother of his partner, Louise O’Connor, on May 29, 2017.
Louise O’Connor and her daughter Stephanie, as well as Louise’s former partner Keith Johnston, have pleaded not guilty to impeding the prosecution of Mr Greene.
Witness Christine Murphy said she first saw what looked like ‘a piece of a pig’ in a roadside ditch during the family picnic near Old Boley and the Woods in Enniskerry on June 10, 2017.
‘I didn’t know what it was at the time,’ she told the court.
The court also heard that the picnic was an annual event for the family, and that around 14 people had gone, including children. They had arrived at the scene shortly after 6pm.
After they had eaten, the family discovered that a rear window of one of their cars had been smashed, and a handbag taken.
Christine’s brother Jonathan Murphy said they decided to search the nearby ditches, in case the handbag had been thrown away. His sister pointed out to him the object she had seen earlier. He said: ‘It was an upper torso, from the ribs to the neck.’
He said the arms had been cut off, with the remaining stumps being of different lengths.
Mr Murphy said the torso could only be seen when standing on the verge, and not from the road.
He said he called over his father and other members of the family, and that his aunt Breda Kenny phoned 999.
Ms Kenny said the family were ‘alarmed and distressed’ by the discovery. She said: ‘We weren’t entirely sure what we had found, but we were pretty sure that it was human remains.’
One of the gardaí who responded to her call, Sgt Brendan Maher, commented: ‘I certainly wasn’t expecting to see the remains so close to the road.
‘I would have thought that if you were dumping a body, you would have gone further.’
He said his impression was that a person had stood on the bank, ‘and kind of chucked it’.
He said he arranged to have the scene cordoned off.
Another witness, Noel Ruane, said he had been walking with his partner near the Glenmacnass waterfall on June 10, 2017, when they saw what they thought were animal organs, specifically a stomach, on a rock by the stream.
He said they thought nothing more of it until hearing on the radio news the following day that human remains had been found in the area. He and his partner went for a second look, and reported their find to gardaí at a roadside checkpoint, the court heard.
Garda photographer Det Sgt David Conway told how he photographed the victim’s remains at various locations in the Dublin mountains.
He told how Patricia O’Connor’s head and hands were in a black plastic bag on a grassy area between the Military Road and the adjacent woods, while part of her torso and waist were found in another location, as were her upper torso, shoulders and neck.
Det Sgt Conway also photographed Patricia O’Connor’s house in Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, where the murder is alleged to have taken place.
‘Pretty sure it was human remains’
Jury shown pictures of home
The jury were shown pictures of a very ordinary four-bedroom home, with wooden stairs, a tiled downstairs bathroom, an extended kitchen diner and a garden cluttered with children’s toys.
The detective sergeant said he photographed what looked like blood on the kitchen wall and in an upstairs bedroom, as well as on the outside wall near the front door. However, he agreed under cross-examination that this was only his impression, and that other scientists had examined the scene for blood.
He had also, under instructions from the State pathologist Dr Michael Curtis, photographed diagrams of a human skeleton with various injuries marked on it, the court heard. Those were shown to the jury.
Scenes-of-crime examiner Garda Brian Shiggins showed the jury pictures he had taken of two hacksaws and a hatchet, found by gardaí in deep undergrowth in the Dodder Valley Park in Tallaght, Dublin.
Garda Gerard Fox showed photographs he had taken of items bought by gardaí to match those on receipts found in the house and car at Mountainview Park.
They included a packet of 30 extra-strong black plastic sacks, two sets of rubber gloves, a JCB handsaw, two hacksaws, two axes, protection sheets, two pairs of wellington boots, a petrol can and towing rope. The hacksaws and hatchet found in Tallaght appeared to match those on the receipts, he confirmed.
In statements read to the court, Dr Edward Cotter, prosthodontist at the Hermitage Medical Clinic, and oral surgeon Mary Clarke detailed how the remains of Patricia O’Connor were identified through her dental records. The trial continues.
helen.bruce@dailymail.ie