Red-faced fetish site users line up to give evidence
Elaine O’Hara liked ‘blood-letting, degradation and humiliation’, court told
SEáN BYRNE bolted forward as soon as his name was called.
He had almost made it into the witness box when he realised that some of the jury, who had returned from lunch, weren’t entirely settled into their seats as the trial of architect Graham Dwyer for the murder of Elaine O’Hara resumed on Tuesday this week.
Now he was hovering awkwardly somewhere between the media gallery and the accused bench, his neck and face noticeably reddening.
Mr Byrne was the latest in a steady stream of men who had come to give evidence about Elaine O’Hara’s use of ‘alternative’ websites. As he explained that he was a member of the website Fetlife and that he had the online user name ‘THESTRICTONE’, the crimson shade did not fade.
He said gardaí had made contact with him after his phone number was found on Ms O’Hara’s mobile. He had never met her, he said.
Ms O’Hara’s family did not hear his evidence. Apparently advised of explicit content, they had left during the evidence of Robert Cullen Jones, one of two men who gave accounts of how they came to have sex with Ms O’Hara.
The court heard that he was interviewed by gardaí in October 2013, weeks after her remains were found, about her disappearance. Mr Cullen Jones told how she had shared her fantasy of being tied up and restrained with a man
‘He was more into wax play and light kink’
she met on fetish website, alt.com.
He said the website was used to meet ‘ submissive and dominant people’ who ‘liked to give control to others in a sexual way’. Appearing sheepish, Mr Cullen Jones agreed that Ms O’Hara’s username was ‘HELPMELEARN 36/F’.
His username on the site was ‘Dublin_Master’, he said, and told the court he began communicating with Ms O’Hara via the website and then swapped phone numbers.
They met for coffee in Dundrum Town Centre a few weeks later and then went back to her apartment in Stepaside and had sex.
The witness said Ms O’Hara told him she was liked ‘restraints’ and ‘being tied up’ but said none of that took place with him.
Mark Guerin, who had a brief sexual relationship with Ms O’Hara, said she had spoken about self-harming and said she had experienced cutting, not done by herself.
Mr Guerin told how his brief relationship with Ms O’Hara had ended, because, as phrased by prosecution counsel Seán Guerin, she was into ‘restraints, blood-letting, degradation and humiliation’ while he was ‘more into wax play and light kink’.
Mr Guerin said he had been interviewed by gardaí about his use of alt. com.
He confirmed that he had the username ‘Time2KillinDublin’ and that he first arranged to meet Ms O’Hara four or five years ago.
Several other men who had had contact with Ms O’Hara online told how they interacted with her on various sites but had never met her in person. Another witness, Kurt Ronnkuist, originally from Sweden but who has lived in Ireland for seven years, said he had used the instant messaging service on alt.com and that he had used the Collarme website.
Under cross-examination by the defence, he said he had an instant messaging conversation on September 23, 2010, with Ms O’Hara. He agreed that she had called him ‘sir’ in the conversation. He said he had never met her. Later in the week, Dr Matt Murphy, a retired consultant psychiatrist at St Edmunsdbury Hospital, Lucan, Co. Dublin, told the court how Ms O’Hara had obsessive thoughts of being tied up since she was 12 years of age.
Dr Murphy took over Ms O’Hara’s care after the death of her previous psychiatrist, Professor Anthony Clare, in 2007, who had treated her since she was 16.
‘She talked a good deal about play in her head,’ he said. ‘She had been getting these thoughts from the age of about 12. These concerned being restricted, imprisoned.’
Dr Murphy told Mr Guerin that there was never a diagnosis of psychosis and that tranquillisers were used because of her state of extreme agitation.
He said: ‘I think the diagnosis that we all would have concurred with, certainly in the latter part of our acquaintance with Elaine, was borderline personality disorder.’
He also told how she had spoken of thoughts of hanging herself a number of times. In re-examination, Mr Guerin asked Dr Murphy what he thought was the level of risk for Ms O’Hara after her discharge from care in August 2012, given the arrangements they had discussed, including work and her involvement in the Tall Ships festival.
Dr Murphy said: ‘I would have been surprised if she had slipped back in mood terms very suddenly and I would have been surprised and saddened if she hadn’t turned back to us for help if that had happened.’
The trial continues.
His username was ‘Time2KillinDublin’