A Dublin woman hired a pub doorman to murder her violent partner who was hacked to death and had a sword run through his body, a joint murder trial heard yesterday.
The murder of Mr Derek Benson (34), in May 2000 was, according to the State, a contract killing precipitated by Mr Benson's demands for part of an inheritance due to his partner, Ms Jacqui Noble (37).
The State's case is that Ms Noble, a mother of one from Ballymun, contracted co-accused Mr Paul Hopkins (24), for between £3,000 and £5,000 to murder Mr Benson. It is alleged that she paid Mr Hopkins, who worked as a doorman at a public house in Drumcondra, £200 "up front", the balance to be paid after the murder.
In the prosecution's opening speech in the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Mr Tom O'Connell SC, told the jury that Mr Benson suffered 25 stab wounds inflicted with a sword and 60 "cuts or incised wounds". In seven stab wounds to the trunk, the sword went through the body completely "from back to front and front to back".
The jury heard that Ms Noble agreed a plan with Mr Hopkins to kill Mr Benson in his flat at Sandy Hill Avenue, Ballymun. "The plan was that Mr Hopkins would actually kill Mr Benson and that he would do this at the request of Ms Noble who paid him a certain amount of money up front and agree to pay him more after he was killed," Mr O'Connell said.
The jury heard that Mr Benson, an habitual drug user, was violent towards Ms Noble. The two had lived together in a flat in Ballymun for many years and had a teenage daughter. However, Ms Jacqui Noble had left the flat and gone to live at her parents' home at nearby Knowth Court. The court heard that both her parents were deceased and she was due to inherit a sum of money and the house. Mr Benson was demanding some of the money to buy an apartment and a motorbike. The State claims this precipitated the killing, "although she had contemplated killing him for some time".
On Thursday, May 11th, 2000, two days before the killing, Ms Noble met Mr Hopkins who she knew and who was also known to the deceased. "She asked him to kill her partner, Derek Benson. She said she would pay him £3,000 to £5,000 for the killing and she gave him an advance of £200," Mr O'Connell said.
It is alleged that he bought a sword from his brother for £50, some sleeping tablets and a mobile phone. He gave the phone and tablets to Ms Noble, Mr O'Connell said.
"It was agreed that she would go to the flat and drug Mr Benson and that she would then contact Mr Hopkins by phone when the coast was clear. She would then leave and he would kill him." The prosecution allege that Ms Noble "fed" Mr Benson the tablets.
The jury was told they would hear evidence from neighbours who heard screaming at around 3 a.m. and saw smoke and fire coming from the flat.
When the body was found it was covered in blood. "Mr Hopkins set fire to the flat after he had slain Mr Benson," counsel said, although this was not part of the plan. A sword, said to be the murder weapon, was later found in the house of a friend of Mr Hopkins.
Ms Noble, of Knowth Court, Ballymun, Dublin and Mr Hopkins, Sillogue Road, Ballymun both pleaded not guilty to the murder.
The trial, before Mr Justice Henry Abbott, continues today.