It is likely a drug dealer was shot in the abdomen before receiving a fatal gunshot to the head, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard.
Former chief State pathologist Marie Cassidy told the court on Tuesday she carried out a postmortem on Eoin O’Connor’s remains and there was evidence of significant decomposition.
Ruth Lawrence (45), who is originally from Clontarf, Dublin, but with an address at Patricks Cottage, Ross, Mountnugent, Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr O’Connor (32) and Anthony Keegan (33) between April 22nd and May 26th, 2014.
Prof Cassidy said Mr O’Connor’s body was found wrapped in dark blue nylon material and secured with light blue nylon rope. The light blue nylon rope had been wound around the neck, mid trunk and legs.
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She said Mr O’Connor was clothed and had been wearing a blue Helly Hansen jacket, a blue Chelsea football T-shirt and grey tracksuit bottoms.
Prof Cassidy said she identified three gunshot wounds: one to the head, another to the abdomen and a third to the left hand.
She said a partly fragmented bullet was located inside the skull cavity.
The second gunshot wound to the abdominal wall was near the tummy button. The bullet had continued into the pelvic cavity and gone from the front of the body towards the back, exiting from the left upper buttock.
The third gunshot wound to the left index finger had fractured the bone.
She said a toxicology report showed a low level of alcohol in Mr O’Connor’s system.
Prof Cassidy said the gunshot wound to the head was the fatal injury, whereas the bullet through the abdomen was “a potentially fatal wound”.
Prof Cassidy agreed with Mr Michael O’Higgins SC, prosecuting, that the bullet into the head had been “lodged” and there had been no exit point.
She said it was likely that Mr O’Connor’s body had been “wrapped” fairly soon after death.
The cause of death, she said, was the gunshot wound to the head with a contributory factor being the gunshot injury to the abdomen.
Asked by Mr O’Higgins whether she could offer a view as to the sequence of the gunshots discharged, Prof Cassidy said it was likely the gunshot wound to the abdomen had occurred first and then the fatal gunshot to the head.
She said the injury to the brain would have caused immediate collapse and rapid death.
“Are the three wounds consistent with three gunshots?” Mr O’Higgins asked.
Prof Cassidy replied: “It could have been two shots, he could have been protecting the abdomen or raising his hand to his head.”
In his opening address, Mr O’Higgins told the jury the State would argue that Ms Lawrence shot drug dealer Mr O’Connor and worked “as a unit” with her boyfriend to kill him and Mr Keegan, with their bodies later found “bound in rope, tape and covered in tarpaulin”.
Mr O’Higgins said the 12 jurors would hear evidence that the accused woman shot one of the two men but this was not immediately fatal and was “quickly followed up” by a shot from Neville van der Westhuizen.
The jurors were also told by Mr O’Higgins it is the prosecution case that the accused woman and her boyfriend had “spoken openly” about “the murders and disposing of the bodies”.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of four men and eight women.
