A CORK man charged with murder admitted to a witness that he hit another man several blows with a hammer and then choked him with a ligature, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Kevin Haugh SC said he would call evidence that Mr Frederick Flannery told another man he dismembered the body of the alleged victim - Mr Denis Patrick O'Driscoll, known as Pa or Patch. The witness would say he was shown identifiable human body parts in Mr Flannery's flat in a house in Wellington Terrace in Cork city in December, 1994.
Mr Haugh said gardai had not found Mr O'Driscoll's body. The State was contending that Mr O'Driscoll disappeared from Wellington Terrace around December 16th, 1994 and that Mr Flannery murdered him.
Human remains, including tissue, a fingernail and human hair as well as some pieces of clothing were found in a field near Cork city which was shown to gardai by a witness who said Mr Flannery had told him that was where he, proposed to dump Mr O'Driscoll's body, Mr Haugh added.
Mr Haugh was opening the trial of Mr Flannery (35), of no fixed abode, who has denied murdering Mr O'Driscoll (33), at a house at Wellington Terrace, Lower Glanmire Road, Cork, between December 15th and 31st, 1994.
Mr Flannery and Mr O'Driscoll both rented a flat in the house at that time, the court heard.
Mr O'Driscoll had lost his left eye in a car crash and he wore a patch.
Mr Haugh said there was a perception that there cannot he a murder charge without a body but that was not the law. Gardai had not found Mr O'Driscoll's body but the jury would be satisfied beyond all reasonable doubt that he had been murdered and his body never recovered.
Mr O'Driscoll was expected to visit his sister and her husband on December 18th, 1994 but never arrived, said Mr Haugh. His sister's husband had gone to Wellington Terrace that night and had spoken to Mr Flannery who told him he last saw Mr O'Driscoll the previous Thursday.
On January 2nd, 1995, Mr O'Driscoll's family reported him missing and appeals for help were made in the media. Twenty six people came forward saying they had seen Mr O Driscoll after the time the State contended he was murdered. Mr Haugh told the jury unless they rejected this evidence they must not return a murder verdict.
It was the State's case that the people who said they saw Mr O'Driscoll after Christmas 1994 were mistaken.
The court heard Mr O'Driscoll's sister was expecting him to visit her in Wales in December 1994. But he never arrived.
One witness would say he thought he saw Mr O Driscoll getting a ferry at Cork in late November or early December 1994. Mr Haugh said Mr O Driscoll was prone to epileptic type convulsions brought on by alcohol and one theory is he might have taken the boat and had a fit and fallen overboard.
Mr Haugh said the evidence would come mainly from a man who would say that Mr Flannery admitted to him he had struck Mr O'Driscoll with a hammer and injured him and then tied a ligature around his neck, killing him. The witness would say that Mr Flannery and another man had gone up to the accused's flat with a saw, a Stanley knife and blankets. He would say these appeared to be used in dismembering the body of Mr O'Driscoll. He heard sawing and was brought upstairs and shown parts of a human body.
The body parts were put in bags and the witness asked to help put them in a car which was driven to another house.
Two days later, the witness claims Mr Flannery and another man showed him a field where they planned to dispose of the body.
The trial continues today.