A CORK woman died in her home on Easter Sunday last year after being struck at least five times in the head with a hurley, a Central Criminal Court jury will hear.
The body of mother-of-three Catherine Smart (57) was discovered on the floor of her house in Bailick Court, Midleton, having sustained serious head injuries.
Derrick Daly (47), originally from Enfield, Co Meath, but with an address at St Vincent’s Hostel in Cork city, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of the separated mother on the morning of April 4th, 2010.
Opening the prosecution case, Michael Durack SC told the court it was the State’s contention that sometime before 9.30am on the morning of April 4th, Mr Daly took a hurley and struck Ms Smart at least five times, resulting in her death.
Mr Durack said the jury would hear evidence from the State Pathologist that Ms Smart died as a result of receiving at least five blows to her head from a hurley.
He said that Mr Daly and Ms Smart, whom he described as a heavy-set woman suffering with hypertension, had been living together at the house in Midleton for 1½ years prior to Ms Smart’s death.
On the evening of Saturday, April 3rd, 2010, Ms Smart had been drinking and socialising in a number of pubs in Midleton, finally leaving for her home at approximately 3am on the Sunday morning.
Mr Durack said that the jury would hear how a fellow patron of the public house walked her home, and that when the man entered the house he encountered Mr Daly, who was intoxicated.
He said that gardaí also called to the house in Bailick Court hours before Ms Smart’s death after she complained she was locked out of her home.
Later that morning, Ms Smart made another call to a local taxi driver whom she had known for many years.
At 9.24am, Mr Daly then contacted gardaí.
He told them he had left the house to go to a Lidl shop but on his return discovered he could not gain entry to the sitting room as there was a dead body barring the door. This body transpired to be that of Ms Smart.
Mr Durack said that when gardaí examined the scene they found the kitchen in disarray, with a fridge and blood-splattered microwave having been knocked to the ground.
He said the jury would hear that Mr Daly’s left thumb print was found on the back of this fridge.
He said that Mr Daly gave a number of different accounts to gardaí, but the one thing that remained consistent was his account of leaving the house believing that Ms Smart was still alive, only to return to find her dead.
The trial will resume in front of Mr Justice Garrett Sheehan on Monday.