‘It looked staged’– Garda’s reaction to finding Martin with knife to neck

A Garda Sergeant who visited the apartment of Martin Kivlehan shortly after he had been found dead by friends told the Central Criminal Court that he and his colleagues believed a knife left resting on his chest pointing towards his neck had been “staged.”

“Yes, that’s the conversation we had,” Sergeant Ciaran Divilly told defence senior counsel, Brendan Grehan.

The sergeant arrived at the apartment at 1.53pm having been contacted by Garda David Hannon and Garda David McDonagh who had responded to the 999 call made by Martin Kivlehan’s brother, Christopher.

Sgt Divilly said he was told by his colleagues that the death appeared to be suspicious. Mr Kivlehan was lying on the floor with a knife in his right hand pressed against his neck.

There was a cut to the left hand side of his neck and his t-shirt was soaked in blood. There was a black refuse bag containing beer cans half emptied on the ground. He got the impression that someone had either gone through the place or that the late Mr Kivlehan hadn’t lead a clean lifestyle.

The witness told Mr Grehan (with Mr Keith O’Grady BL), that it was a steak knife which was touching the left hand side of the deceased’s neck. “It was sort of resting on his neck,” he said. Sgt Divilly also stated there was evidence of drug taking in the apartment with tin foil and burn marks on a coffee table.

Garda Hannon was the first Garda to arrive at the apartment having got a call to go there at 1.35pm. Mr Kivlehan was on the floor in the sitting room, his face turned away from the door. There was a steak knife to his throat. His right hand was resting on the knife.

All the cupboard presses were open and there was a stereo on the kitchen floor. There were tablets scattered on the bed. A GP pronounced Mr Kivlehan dead at 14.54pm.

In reply to Mr Grehan, Garda Hannon said the lower half of the deceased was covered in a duvet. His right arm was resting across his chest. -His fist was closed but resting on the knife.

“It wasn’t in his hand,” he said. It was a serrated blade, a steak knife pointing away from the centre of his neck.

“He appeared to have an injury to the left hand side of his neck. His head was turned to the right,” he said. The Garda also noticed a blood stain below Mr Kivlehan’s left nipple.

“The scene made me suspicious. It didn’t appear natural,” he said. He contacted his sergeant, Ciaran Divilly and the scene was preserved.

Garda McDonagh said he got a strong smell of alcohol on entering the apartment with Garda Hannon and Christopher Kivlehan.

The apartment was untidy and it appeared that the sitting room had been ransacked. The Garda said he couldn’t say for definite that Mr Kivlehan had had a grip of the knife. His right hand was more on top of the knife than being in it, he said.

“The knife was loosely placed in the hand,” he said. He didn’t notice any injuries to the body as he hadn’t been close enough.

Detective Garda Fiona Maguire of the fingerprint section attached to the Garda Technical Bureau told the trial she arrived at the apartment at 7.30pm on August 3rd and assisted in the removal of the deceased to Sligo University Hospital for a post mortem examination.

She took possession of two knives, one from the deceased which had been lying on his chest with his hand covering it. This was a steak knife. She also came across a knife in the vicinity of the sitting room. This was the larger of the two.

She attended at the post mortem and took finger prints from the deceased. The knives were sent to the forensic laboratory. No finger or palm print was developed on either knife.

A Silk Cut silver box, which was found under the coffee table, had a single print mark which matched that of Mr Kivlehan.

The witness said she also took possession of a Parazone bottle which had also been located underneath the coffee table. There was also tin foil and a green lighter present.

Earlier, the trial heard from a number of witnesses who had seen Mr Kivlehan in the hours before his death.

Rebecca Cawley, in evidence, said she worked in the MACE store which was next door to where Mr Kivlehan lived on Holborn Street. She recalled that on Sunday, August 2nd 2015, between 5pm and 6pm Mr Kivlehan came in. He was wearing a black t-shirt and grey tracksuit bottoms and slippers.

He had some alcohol taken, was pasty looking and his beard was longer than usual. He was more unkempt than normal, she said. He was hoping to buy alcohol and was looking to see if there were any special offers. She told him they were selling Linden Village cider at €2.99 per 2 litre bottle. Mr Kivlehan bought two bottles of it with coins. The witness placed them in a bag for him but he was struggling with it and a woman who came in, Catherine Rooney, offered to carry it for him.

Ms Cawley stated that on the Monday, August 3rd she opened the shop at 8.30am and she recalled a man coming in asking what time they served alcohol at. He went on to buy milk and bread.

The witness told Mr Grehan that she never had too much conversation with Mr Kivlehan but that he was a lovely man. She knew of him as she had also grown up in the area.

On the Sunday he had slightly more drink taken than normal but she was still able to hold a conversation with him.

Catherine Rooney, a niece of the deceased’s partner, Kay, said she was in MACE around 3.10pm and saw Mr Kivlehan there. He asked her to help him carry the bag with the cider in it and she obliged.

She brought the cider into his apartment next door and left them on the coffee table. She helped him into his chair nearby. Her aunt, Kay was in the house at the time. The witness said the house looked tidy. She agreed with Mr Grehan that Mr Kivlehan had drink taken at the time.

“He was the way he always was and wasn’t drunker than normal,” she said.

In a statement read to the jury by prosecuting senior counsel, Paul Murray, Kay Ennis said she had been Mr Kivlehan’s partner for the past 15 years or so. She called to his home on the Sunday at 2.15pm and sat with him for an hour or two. The place was tidy. He was sipping a can of cider.

She lent him €5 to buy a few cans for himself and he returned from the shop with two bottles of cider. She left soon after. He walked her to the door and locked it after her.

Another witness Samantha O’Hanlon stated she saw the deceased in MACE around 9.20pm on the Sunday and spoke with him briefly. “I felt he was okay and wasn’t drunk,” she said. She knew him her whole life and was a man “who wouldn’t hurt a fly, a gentleman.”