Granny, 61, died violent death but not where body parts found
Court hears grisly details of how woman’s remains were spotted
A GRANDMOTHER whose dismembered body parts were found in the Wicklow mountains was likely killed violently – but not where she was found, a crime scene investigator told a court yesterday.
Detective Garda Janette O’Neill was 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 body parts.
Mr Greene, 34, formerly of Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms O’Connor, the mother of his partner, Louise
‘They were just a dumping ground’
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.
Asked by prosecuting counsel Roisin Lacey what her opinion was of the victim’s body, Det Gda O’Neill told the Central Criminal Court: ‘I believe the deceased did not die in any of the scenes [where she was found]. It would appear they were just a dumping ground for all the pieces of the remains.’
She added: ‘I am of the opinion that the deceased died a violent death, resulting from the postmortem examination of all the body parts, especially the head.’ Det Gda O’Neill said the postmortem examination of the skull indicated that Ms O’Connor had received blunt force head trauma.
Det Gda O’Neill told how she had visited many of the locations where the gruesome discoveries of body parts had been made.
In total, there were 15 body parts found between June 11 and 14, 2017, across nine locations in the Wicklow mountains, close to the Military Road, she confirmed.
She noted that those found in open land, such as the torso found by picnicker Christine Murphy, were in a relatively ‘fresh’ condition, with little blowfly activity.
But she said the head and hands, found in a black plastic bag, had decomposed more quickly, in the warm June weather. She agreed that body parts which had been buried would decompose at a slower rate than those left in the open. She said that by the time the head and hands were found, they knew they were dealing with a female victim, but they had not yet identified her.
A number of Garda and Army witnesses told the court yesterday how they came across body parts during organised searches.
Corporal Michael Keown said: ‘I saw a lump of meat which looked like pork lying under a bush. Beside that I saw a thigh... the third piece looked like an elbow.’
Private Dean O’Neill told how he saw a part of the victim’s torso from his vantage point in an Army truck, and Private John Curtis said he noticed a smell like rotting meat, and a cluster of a hundred flies, which turned out to be the bottom half of the victim’s torso.
Det Gda O’Neill also told the court that she had examined Mrs O’Connor’s terraced four-bedroom house at Mountainview
Park, Rathfarnham, where she was allegedly murdered.
On her first visit on June 15, she noticed that there appeared to have been an attempt to repaint the bathroom and part of the hall.
She said that new tiles had been laid in the bathroom, and a blood spot found in grout close to the bath was sampled for analysis.
‘There did not appear to be any sign of an altercation,’ she added.
Forensic scientist John Hoade told the court he helped to identify the victim by comparing her muscle-tissue DNA with that of her daughter Louise O’Connor, which showed results ‘fully compatible with the deceased being the mother of Louise O’Connor’.
He analysed the blood spot and found it came from a man, and was therefore not the victim’s, the court heard. The trial continues on Monday before Judge Paul McDermott and a jury.
‘No sign of altercation’