A CORK man has claimed that a body found in the shed behind his house was that of an intruder he caught in his mother’s bedroom, the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork heard yesterday.
However, a Garda investigation into the murder of Lee McCarthy (25) on April 17th, 2010, had found that the accused man, Timothy O’Driscoll, had been drinking with the victim the previous night in Cork city and had brought him back to his house.
Mr O’Driscoll (33), St Rita’s Avenue, Gurranebraher, pleaded not guilty to the murder of London-born McCarthy at that address.
Brendan Grehan, counsel for the DPP, told the court gardaí and emergency services went to the house at St Rita’s Avenue shortly after 6am after phone calls were made reporting a burglary and an injured man.
A trail of blood in the back yard led to the shed. Ambulance staff found the body of a young man in the shed. Mr O’Driscoll claimed he had arrived home at midnight and fell asleep on the sofa.
His mother was in bed and when he heard her call “Timmy, Timmy”, he went upstairs where he found a man in her bedroom.
He said he caught the man by the neck, pushed him down the stairs and pulled him out of the house. The man had a knife and was bleeding, he said. He was sure he was on drugs. He shoved the man into the shed and locked it.
Dr Margaret Bolster, Assistant State Pathologist, said there were six stab wounds to the neck and back and two of the wounds to the neck were fatal.
A knife was found at the scene. The victim also had abrasions, lacerations and bruises.
The court heard that witness Stephen Monaghan would give an account of events at variance with the version given by the accused.
