A 42-year-old woman has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court accused of being the getaway driver for the murderer of mother-of-two Lisa Thompson, who was found stabbed to death in her home.
It was during the opening of the trial of Deirdre Arnold today that counsel for the State said the 12 jurors will hear evidence that the accused drove murderer Brian McHugh to the deceased’s home, where she waited outside “for well over an hour” before driving him away from the scene and later checking him into a hotel in an effort to help him evade prosecution. It is also the prosecution’s case that she allowed her vehicle to be used to dispose of evidence taken from the deceased’s home.
The jury also heard today there will be evidence that fingerprints recovered on a jewellery valuation certificate linked to Ms Thompson and found in Ms Arnold’s car also matched the accused woman.
Ms Arnold, with an address at Briarfield Grove, Kilbarrack, Dublin 5, is charged that on a date between May 9th, 2022, and May 10th, 2022, both dates inclusive, at a location within the State, she did without reasonable excuse an act with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of Brian McHugh, a person who had committed an arrestable offence, namely murder, while knowing or believing Brian McHugh to be guilty of the offence or of some other arrestable offence.
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Ms Arnold is also charged that on a date between May 9th, 2022 and May 10th, 2022, both dates inclusive, at a location within the State, she acted or embarked upon a course of conduct which had a tendency to and was intended to pervert the course of public justice.
Ms Arnold has pleaded not guilty to the two counts.
Opening the prosecution’s case, Fiona Murphy SC, for the Director of Public Prosecutions, said the law requires that the State prove that Ms Arnold knew or believed Brian McHugh (40) was guilty of the murder of Lisa Thompson (52) or that she knew or believed he was guilty of some similar offence arising from the same set of circumstances.
Ms Murphy said the jury would hear that Ms Arnold drove McHugh to Ms Thompson’s home at Sandyhill Gardens in Ballymun, where she waited for him “for well over an hour” before allowing him to place bags of items taken from the deceased’s home in her car.
She said the State’s case against Ms Arnold is also that she drove McHugh away afterwards and then assisted him over the next 24 hours, where items taken from Ms Thompson’s home were discarded.
In relation to the second count against the accused, Ms Murphy said the State only needed to prove that Ms Arnold had “embarked upon a course of conduct” which was intended to pervert the course of justice, “not that it did perverse the course of justice”.
Counsel said that witness Damien Geraghty will give evidence that he called to Ms Thompson’s house at 3.15pm, where he found the deceased’s remains inside the rear door of the property and rang 999.
Ms Murphy said paramedics later discovered Ms Thompson’s remains, where they found numerous puncture wounds to the chest and a window blind cord wrapped around the neck. Ms Thompson was pronounced dead at 4.48pm.
There will be evidence, Ms Murphy said, that gardaí had noted Ms Thompson’s rear door was unlocked and the upstairs bedroom ransacked. She said gardaí also found there was no sign of forced entry and that the front door was locked. She said two knives were missing from a block of knives in the kitchen.
Ms Murphy said pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan carried out a postmortem on Ms Thompson and found death had occurred through a combination of ligature strangulation causing asphyxia and multiple stab wounds to the left side of the chest.
Counsel said it wasn’t released to the media at this stage that strangulation was a cause of death.
The court heard further evidence will be that Ms Arnold and McHugh had travelled together to Ms Thompson’s house in a Hyundai Tucson and that the accused was the registered owner of that vehicle.
The barrister further stated that McHugh got into the Tucson, which was waiting nearby, and drove away. She said the vehicle was driven to an Applegreen service station on St Margaret’s Road in Swords.
Counsel said the court will hear that Ms Arnold was identified in the vehicle at the service station with McHugh and that the accused had remained in his company that day and the next. Ms Murphy said CCTV footage will also show Ms Arnold and McHugh getting out of the car at the service station. She said McHugh can be seen showing jewellery to the cashier.
Evidence will be that the Tucson left the service station at 3.21am and returned at 4.04am. She said this was relevant as Ms Thompson’s driving licence was located on a slip road in Finglas on May 10th, 2022. The court will also hear evidence, the lawyer said, that the two people on the CCTV at the service station remained there until 4.49am and are seen moving around the area. Gardaí carried out a search of the area and discovered medication in Ms Thompson’s name and a set of keys used to open the deceased’s front door at Sandyhill Gardens.
The barrister said the court will hear evidence regarding the Clayton Hotel near Dublin Airport as well as a conversation Ms Arnold had about booking a room and the reason given for that.
The court will also hear evidence, the barrister indicated, of a number of searches carried out at McHugh’s home at Cairn Court in Ballymun, Dublin 11. She said jewellery was found at that address, which the prosecution say is linked to Ms Thompson.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Patrick McGrath and a jury of seven men and five women.
