Another wink and smile for his father before the knives are shown to jury
Architect Dwyer hears minutiae of life picked over in the O’Hara trial
WHEN Graham Dwyer heard the unexpected mention of his son’s name in court this week, his eyes quickly flashed to his father.
On the opening day of Mr Dwyer’s trial for the murder of Elaine O’Hara, the prosecution had told the jury that the Foxrock architect was a ‘married father of two’.
The description had caused him to shake his head and mouth the word ‘three’.
On Wednesday, it became clear what he had meant. As well as being a father to two small children, the jury learned that Mr Dwyer has an adult son, Sennan McShea who helped gardaí identify him from CCTV footage.
Detective Garda Paul Corcoran
Adult son helped gardaí with CCTV images
gave evidence on Wednesday that he showed Mr McShea photos of his father apparently entering and leaving Ms O’Hara’s apartment on nine occasions in 2012.
‘We were aware that Sennan McShea was the son of Mr Dwyer and the purpose was to see if he could identify anybody in the footage,’ he said.
The detective showed three pictures signed by Mr McShea, who was over 18 at the time. ‘He would have seen all the stills in the booklet and would have selected the ones he was confident with,’ he said.
Mr Dwyer again glanced back at his father who has attended most days, sitting behind a screen less than two metres away.
The previous day, the court had fallen silent when for the first time footage of Mr Dwyer entering and leaving Belarmine Plaza in Stepaside was screened. Frank O’Hara watched as the grainy pictures showed Mr Dwyer – albeit a slimmed down version of the man who now sat in the dock – entering and leaving his daughter’s apartment block. Except for one occasion, he wore black from head to toe and usually walked with at least with one hand in his pocket. On the only occasion that he and Ms O’Hara entered the block together, they stood apart as they waited for the lift to arrive. Ms O’Hara pressed the button and Mr Dwyer hung back in the foyer.
The jury peered hard at the images flashed on the screen in front of them and then at the defendant across the courtroom.
On Wednesday as the court adjourned, Mr Dwyer turned to smile at his younger brother who had joined his father.
The screening of the footage was one of the few times Ms O’Hara was referred to this week. Most of the evidence centred on Mr Dwyer as the minutiae of his life was picked over in tiny detail by the prosecution. The accused who is left handed, scribbled notes as the jury were told that his salary had fallen from €87,350 to €70,000 in less than 6 months from January to June 2011.
On Friday, the appearance of a hand-drawn map on the large screens around court number 13, appeared to prompt a happier response from Mr Dwyer. He turned to his father, smiled and winked as a neatly drawn map, outlining the exact location in his workplace of two hunting knives ordered online, was pored over by the jury. He had winked and smiled at his parents earlier in the trial as the prosecution laid out its case.
The court was told that the map was the work of Mr Dwyer and had been faxed by his solicitor to gardaí on February 17, 2014, four months after his client’s arrest.
Det. Sgt Woods said that the knowledge that a hunting knife ordered online had been delivered to Mr Dwyer’s workplace on the day before Ms O’Hara went missing had been considered ‘hugely significant’ by gardaí. After Mr Dwyer learned that gardaí had failed to find this knife, he drew the office plan map, defence counsel Remy Farrell said.
Det. Sgt Woods said that the map helped him and two colleagues find the relevant filing cabinet in the Dublin city architects practice. ‘I found two knives, one larger than the other,’ he said, before taking the larger knife out of its scabbard and holding it up for the jury.
Later, his former colleague at A&D Wejchert, gave evidence of papers she had passed to gardaí during a search in October 2014.
As Siobhán McKevitt walked to the witness box, passing right in front of Mr Dwyer, he looked up to catch her eye. She continued to stare straight ahead.
Mr Dwyer denies murdering Ms O’Hara, 36, hours after she was released from a psychiatric hospital on August 22, 2012.
The case continues.
‘I found two knives, one larger than the other’