The daughter of a man accused of murdering a Sligo schoolgirl has told a jury that she saw him put the victim's body into a sleeping bag and helped him throw it into a river.
Samantha Conroy (18) gave evidence at the Central Criminal Court via video link on the seventh day of the trial of Ronald McManus (44), also known as Ronnie Dunbar, of Rathbraughan Park, Sligo.
He denies murdering Melissa Mahon (14) in September 2006 and also denies threatening to kill Samantha.
Samantha told the court that she had seen her father with his arm around Melissa’s neck. He had jumped off the bed and left the room when she walked in. She said she tried to resuscitate Melissa who had turned purple and was struggling for air.
They jury heard that when the accused returned to the room Melissa was not breathing. He had a sleeping bag and put Melissa into it head first. He then zipped it up and tied the end with a neck tie.
She said her father lifted the sleeping bag and carried her down the stairs, “roughly, like she was a rag doll”. She said she heard Melissa’s neck break as he shoved her into the boot of his car.
Ms Conroy said she and her younger sister were present and the accused told them to get into the car. He drove for 20 minutes to a spot along the banks of the River Bonnet.
She said her father did not really show any expression. She said he took Melissa’s body from the boot and dragged the sleeping bag across the ground to the water’s edge. He then told his daughters to grab the bottom of the bag.
Ms Conroy said she did so because, “my Dad was a very controlling man and we were scared of him”. She said he was a very big man and they were young girls at the time.
She told the court that she lifted the bag and went knee high into the water. They threw the bag on the accused’s signal. She said it sank slowly and the accused threw stones at it and said he would go in after it if it did not sink completely. She said it went down after five minutes and then they left the scene.
Ms Conroy said the accused told his daughters that they were accessories to Melissa’s murder and he would do the same to them if they told the gardaí what he had done. She said she was very scared, “he’s a very dominant man, everyone is scared of him, he comes across very aggressive”.
She said that the accused then took his daughters to his regular football game that evening. She said that the following day he disinfected his car, burned the seat covers and burned Melissa’s belongings.
Ms Conroy told Isobel Kennedy SC, prosecuting, that Melissa had told her that she was in a sexual relationship with the accused. She said her father overheard their conversation and admitted that it was true.
She said that she had become friendly with Melissa at school and the deceased had told her that she was being abused at home. In August 2006 Melissa had run away from her home and Ms Conroy said she was in her house during that time. She said her father had cut a hole in the base of a bed for her to hide in when gardaí came to look for her.
She said that on an occasion when a social worker and a garda came to her home to look for Melissa hid behind the sofa at the direction of the accused.
Under cross examination by defence counsel, Brendan Grehan SC, Ms Conroy agreed that, apart from her younger sister, she and her father were the only people who could say what happened on the night Melissa died.
She accepted that her sister had given a different version of events but said that was because her sister, “was so brainwashed by Dad, he has control over her”.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of six men and six women. It was expected to last for five weeks and has completed its eight day.