The murder of a man whose body was found months after he went missing had its origins in an assault and robbery he and another person committed, a jury has heard.
Donal O’Sullivan SC, prosecuting, told jurors they will hear evidence how Mr Quilligan and another man had assaulted and robbed Niall Long off York Street in Cork city on September 1st, 2023.
“This apparently was the instigating factor to what happened later,” Mr O’Sullivan told the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
Mr Long (33), of St Michael’s Close, Mahon, Cork, and Luke Taylor (27), formerly of Cherry Lawn, Blackrock, Cork, deny the murder of Mr Quilligan on a date unknown between September 1st, 2023, and January 29th last year.
RM Block
Mr O’Sullivan said the jury would hear Mr Quilligan (47) was a drug user and dealer and that Mr Long was a drug user and may also have been dealing drugs.
After being assaulted on September 1st, Mr Long could be seen on CCTV around Cork city, while Mr Taylor could be seen on CCTV with Mr Quilligan some time before 9pm leaving Mr Quilligan’s flat in the Simon Community complex on Anderson’s Quay.
Mr O’Sullivan said Mr Quilligan and Mr Taylor went up St Finbarr’s Place lane. Two people in a nearby house heard a “violent altercation” and called the guards, he said.
He said a white Toyota Rav registered to Mr Long’s mother was reversed into the top of St Finbarr’s Place with the boot facing the lane. Neither Mr Quilligan nor Mr Taylor were seen on CCTV at the top of the lane before the car left the area.
“Kieran Quilligan is never seen alive again,” Mr O’Sullivan said, saying gardaí tracked the vehicle to a farm at Little Island and then back to the city, where Mr Taylor is dropped off.
Mr O’Sullivan said gardaí later became concerned about an area at Whitewell, Rostellan. With a cadaver dog, gardaí searched the area on January 29th last year and found skeletal remains in a gravel bag.
Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster established Mr Quilligan suffered bone injuries, but she could not determine a cause of death.
Mr O’Sullivan said: “The man was beaten badly. A weapon in the nature of a hammer was used. He met in his end in a violent manner after a lot of bony injuries.”
He told the jury of 10 men and two women how gardaí had months earlier searched Mr Long’s home and a vehicle and they had discovered a bucket with cleaning products found to contain blood matching Mr Quilligan’s.
“I don’t have direct evidence. I don’t have witnesses saying, ‘I saw Luke Taylor and Niall Long beat him to death’. I don’t have that. The case is for the most part circumstantial: a man goes missing on September 1st, found on January 29th. Most likely he died on September 1st,” he said.
The trial continues.
