A man has been found guilty of the murder of Kieran Quilligan whose skeletal remains were found dumped in scrubland in Cork City over two years ago.
Niall Long (33), formerly of St Michael’s Close, Mahon, Cork had denied the murder of Mr Quilligan (47) on a date unknown between September 1st 2023 and January 29th 2024.
The jury of 10 men and two women returned after four hours and 47 minutes of deliberations on Thursday and found Long guilty of the murder of Quilligan. Long was remanded in custody by Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford for sentence at a later date.
Meanwhile, the jury asked for more time to consider the evidence against Long’s co-accused, Luke Taylor (27), formerly of Cherry Lawn, Blackrock, Cork and Ms Justice Lankford asked them to return on Friday to continue their deliberations with regard to Mr Taylor.
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During the trial, the jury heard that Quilligan’s murder had its origins in an incident where he and another man allegedly robbed Long of drugs and cash off York St in Cork City on September 1st 2023 and Quilligan disappeared later that day.
Quilligan’s partner Colette O’Driscoll said that the last time she saw her partner was when he left their apartment at Riverview on Anderson’s Quay in Cork City centre accompanied by Mr Taylor shortly before 9pm on the night of September 1st, 2023.
“He [Quilligan] said he would be back in five to 10 minutes when he left with Luke Taylor – I never saw him again,” said Ms O’Driscoll, adding that when he failed to return home, she reported him missing to An Garda Síochána three days later on September 4th.
The jury heard that gardaí were able to track Quilligan walking with Mr Taylor up the quays in Cork City to St Finbar’s Placebut there was no sign of him ever emerging at the top of the steps on to Fort Street.
However, they heard evidence a white Toyota Rav 4 was seen entering Fort Street and reversing into the steps at the top of St Finbarr’s Place and it was later tracked on CCTV going to Little Island and Rostellan in east Cork where Quilligan’s skeletal remains were found on January 29th, 2024.
Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster said she was unable to say exactly when Quilligan had died or give a precise cause of death due to the length of time between his death and the postmortem which had resulted in the decay and disappearance of all soft tissue and organs.
However, Dr Bolster said it was clear Quilligan had been the victim of a serious assault as he had suffered numerous injuries, including fractures of the temporal bone, parietal bone and mandible or jawbone in the head as well as fractures to several ribs, leg bones and hand bones.
The jury also heard evidence from Dr Sarah Fleming of Forensic Science Ireland that she forensically examined blood stains found in the boot of a white Toyota Rav 4 belonging to Long’s mother Janice, and it provided a DNA match with Quilligan.
A mat from the boot of the car had DNA profile matches for both Quilligan and Long while bloodstaining on a headrest had a DNA profile match for Quilligan and a light bloodstain on a label of part of a T-shirt found in the car matched both Quilligan’s and Long’s DNA.
The jury also heard from Sgt Maurice O’Connor how gardaí were able to retrieve a text sent by Long’s mother, Janice from her phone on September 2nd, 2023, in which she said she noticed a smell of Dettol in the boot of her white Toyota Rav 4.
Although gardaí never found Long’s phone they were able to establish the content of a replying message he sent in which he said, “Yeah, it does, the fellow who robbed me and cut my neck got a hiding and got thrown in the boot, so the boot was cleaned.”
The case continues.
