Video clips found on an external hard drive at Graham Dwyer's home and shown to a jury at the Central Criminal Court show the accused having sex with Elaine O'Hara and using a knife to cut her.
Members of the public were excluded from the court room for a third time in the case and Mr Justice Tony Hunt gave a warning to jurors about what they would have to view.
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.
Mr Justice Hunt told the seven men and five women the video clips were not going to be easy to watch. He said they had to be “the judges of fact” and that involved “stripping away the emotions” that would “understandably arise”.
“Put aside the feelings that may come to the forefront of your mind . . . you are required to be objective,” he said.
Monitors
The 11 clips were shown on monitors close to the jury, while other monitors were switched off or tilted. Two of the clips were of Mr Dwyer; one showed him stabbing himself with a retractable knife. In the second, he spoke to camera and described the effects of chloroform he had taken.
There were three clips of Ms O’Hara and Mr Dwyer having sex while Mr Dwyer uses a knife to cut Ms O’Hara. At times, her muffled cries and screaming could be heard.
Det Garda Bríd Wallace, who found the clips on an external hard drive belonging to Mr Dwyer, agreed the ones involving Ms O’Hara were made on or before October 19th, 2008.
Clips six and seven showed Mr Dwyer with another woman. The first of these, was entitled “attempted breast stab” and the second was called “Bloodletting”. Though these could not be dated, Det Garda Wallace agreed they were held with data dating from May and June 2005. The remaining four clips showed Mr Dwyer and a different woman. In these he cuts the woman during sex.
