A series of text messages allegedly sent by Graham Dwyer to Elaine O'Hara included one that outlined how he would take her to the woods and make it look like she had drowned at sea, a jury at the Central Criminal Court have been told.
The message, sent to her iPhone from an 083 number, suggested there were four ways he could kill Ms O’Hara, one of which was: “We go to woods, I take off your clothes, stab you, bury you, leave your clothes in car near sea at night, looks like you drowned.”
He also asks her: “How would you prefer to die?”
“Naturally,” Ms O’Hara says and a little later: “I always dream of just going to sleep and never waking up . . . I don’t want to die with stab wounds . . . it will hurt my family. Any other way than natural will hurt my family.”
And she says, “I want them to find my body. That’s important to me, sir. Really important.”
Other messages included: “You need that big knife stuck between your tits” and “Either you let me stab you or you help me do it to someone else.”
Mr Dwyer (42), an architect from Kerrymount Close, Foxrock, Dublin, is charged with murdering childcare worker Ms O’Hara (36) on August 22nd, 2012. The prosecution alleges he killed her for his own sexual gratification.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Ms O’ Hara’s remains were found in forestry on Kilakee Mountain, Rathfarnham, on September 13th, 2013.
Crime and policing analyst Sarah Skedd, who collated the text messages for gardaí, took the stand for the second consecutive day on Tuesday.
Seán Guerin SC, for the prosecution, took her through almost 1,300 messages sent between April 11th and July 15th, 2011.
Marks
The jury had heard there were more than 2,600 messages in total in Ms Skedd’s report, the majority sent between Ms O’Hara’s iPhone and the 083 number allegedly used by Mr Dwyer.
On April 12th, 2011, Ms O’Hara complains of marks left on her from ties. The 083 number responds, “Nice, may as well have used the knife” and “Next time nice oval stab wound.” Ms O’Hara responds, “Not if I have my way.”
She tells him she has been doing well and cutting will set back her recovery.
Later in the month, the 083 number suggests using needles on her. “Maybe we can try a few, not too much, but a few,” Ms O’Hara responds.
He then suggests a scalpel and says, “Just figure out a way I can hurt you by sticking something sharp in you.”
The response is, “I don’t know.” Then he suggests “a thin black knife in the belly”. She responds that she will scream, as she can’t stand much pain any more.
“So I can stab you in the belly?” he asks.
“Yes,” she answers.
Later, he asks, “How many can I do?” and she says “only one” and that he must use a thin blade and she doesn’t want big scars. “I want to give you a satisfying stabbing, I can’t if can’t leave marks,” the 083 user says.
The next day, Ms O’Hara texts an apology for “being a disgrace”. He accepts it but says, “I was looking forward to it and you ruined it.”
Not right
“Sir, I can’t let you cut me, I just can’t, it’s not right to ask me to, sir,” Ms O’Hara says. “Sir, I don’t want to see you again if you are going to cut me.”
The 083 user then says okay, as long as he can do “bondage, rape, anal and oral” and he gets to “stab some girl to death”.
He tells her to think of places they can bring someone, including the woods. There is a discussion about the use of phones and leaving a crime scene. Ms O’Hara also suggests he kills her sister, and supplies her name, age and address, before saying she didn’t mean it.
On April 21st, the 083 user suggests “outdoor play and a bit of reconnaissance” in the mountains. He says there will be no killing, but they will see “if it is possible”.
“I’m going to chain you to a tree and rape you,” he says.
There is discussion about what turns her on and she warns, “Don’t even try to stab me.”
“I am a sadist, I enjoy other’s pain. You should help me inflict pain on you,” he says.
“Yes, sir,” Ms O’Hara responds. He tells her she is a “good girl” and if she helps him stab a girl she won’t get knifed.
On April 25th, the 083 user says he found a dead sheep yesterday.
“Might go back after dark and see what it feels like to sink a knife into it,” he says.
There is a discussion about him paying for a tattoo on her and another about killing someone.
The 083 user says, “Everyone has to die sometime, it’s bad luck for whoever this is.” He would hit her across the head with a hammer, he says, so she doesn’t feel it and her heart is still working and he’d get “the full effect of the stabbing”.
On May 7th, Ms O’Hara texts that she has been to her psychiatrist but is “unfortunately not suicidal”.
The 083 user responds that he is available to end it painlessly. “Just think, all your worries gone. I can fit you in on Thursday,” he says.
Oblivion
He also says he knows she wants it; “Thirty seconds to put you into oblivion”. She asks him to “please stop”.
On May 24th, the sheep is discussed again and the 083 user says he was “laying low” in case the stabbing was investigated. He says he was “up flying” and took a peek and the animals had “picked the carcass clean”.
“I want to do a woman next. It was a fantastic feeling, the knife going in and watching blood spurt out,” he says.
They also discuss Ms O’Hara’s shortage of money and he suggests he will pay her €50 a stab.
“Nice try, I’m not giving blood for anything,” she responds.
The 083 user later says he is thinking of visiting a prostitute to see how easy it is to kill. He also suggests they could find “a young female auctioneer”.
He tells her he will kill someone only if he has a “perfect plan”.
“Lots of people have stabbed and got away with it, why not me?” he asks.
On May 30th, the 083 user tells Ms O’Hara how great she was the night before and how he enjoyed hanging her. She says she liked the chains but not the noose.
“I was hoping you would f**k up so I could stick you.”
She responds she is not giving him permission “only if I f**k up”, she says.
On June 2nd, the 083 number asks Ms O’Hara to take a picture of herself with a knife. The next day he tells her her “picture is fab”.
There is further discussion about finding someone to kill in the woods and Ms O’Hara tells him he will drive himself mad if he keeps going through it.
He responds he will be fine once he’s done it.
During another exchange, Ms O’Hara says she’s learnt everything has consequences and when she cuts or someone cuts her, “I go down big time”.
The texts show on June 8th, the 083 user promises to punish Ms O’Hara and on June 9th he asks, “How is stab wound?” She says it’s okay and he tells her he enjoyed sticking her.
“Between the punches and the stabs I will never find my true love,” Ms O’Hara says.
“I still want kids even if it’s only one and I want someone to care for me and love me. That will never change.”
Wounds
Later in the month, the 083 user tells her to “keep the stab wounds clean and covered in plasters”.
Toward the end of June, he says, “Help me with satisfying my stabbing fetish, find someone to help me . . . or offer your own flesh.”
Another message read: “It’s your fault I want to kill . . . and you won’t let me stab you.”
Ms O’Hara replied: “ I know, I never thought my wanting to die would lead to this.”
After another occasion, the 083 user advises Ms O’Hara again about cleaning her stab wounds. She wishes him a good weekend and says, “You’re right sir, I’m old and ugly and past the time to meet a new master.”
He tells her not to be so hard on herself; “just lower your expectations,” he says.
The trial continues.
