Graham Dwyer a ‘brutal pervert’ with murder on his mind, jury told

The prosecution counsel at the trial of Graham Dwyer for the alleged murder of Elaine O'Hara has described the architect as "a sadistic and brutal pervert with nothing on his mind other than murder".

Sean Guerin was concluding his closing speech on Friday on the 41st day of the Central Criminal Court trial.

Mr Guerin said scheme elaborated over a lengthy period of time by Mr Dwyer to kill someone included planning how to deal with blood at the scene and on himself and also required picking someone who was vulnerable.

Mr Dwyer (42), an architect from Kerrymount Close in Foxrock, is charged with murdering Ms O’Hara (36), on August 22nd, 2012.

He has pleaded not guilty.

Ms O’Hara’s remains were found in forestry on Killakee Mountain, Rathfarnham, on September 13th, 2013. Mr Guerin said Graham Dwyer could be connected “beginning, middle and end” to the disappearance and murder of Elaine O’Hara.

Showing the jury an image of the red and black rucksack found in the Vartry reservoir in 2013, Mr Guerin said this was “exactly the bag” Mr Dwyer had been seen walking out of Elaine O’Hara’s apartment building carrying.

They knew what that bag had been found with, including the phones and Elaine O’Hara’s possessions, including her keys.

Mr Guerin asked whether Mr Dwyer’s claims of Ms O’Hara’s involvement with another person who was interested in “Real Madrid” had any basis, noting that all contact in a relationship would leave a trace on phones and on computers.

He also told the jury there were a number of elements to the plan that Mr Dwyer had clearly given consideration to, including who the victim should be and where the killing should take place.

Documents found on his computer equipment, as well as text messages already heard in evidence, showed he had given consideration to his choice of victim. The documents included ‘killingdarcy’, darcy.doc and ‘Jenny’s first rape’.

Some of the issues were elaborated in detail as much as a year earlier in 2011.

The accused had given consideration, for example, to whether he could make a killing look like a suicide.

Mr Dwyer had also given consideration to how to disable a victim and whether, for example, he could deal a blow with a hammer, although that might be “messy”.

He had clearly experimented with chloroform with a view to using it for that purpose, Mr Guerin said.

Counsel also said Mr Dwyer had ordered a hunting knife, which would be part of his “toolkit” assembled for the plan he carried out to kill Elaine O’Hara on August 22nd 2012 when he brought her up Killakee mountain for that purpose.

However, the evidence did not lend itself to showing that that particular knife had been used to kill Ms O’Hara.

Whether the plan was to kill her with it or just to show it to her to “enjoy the look of fear in her eyes”, Mr Guerin said he did not believe was something that can be decided on the evidence.

Key messages to Elaine O’Hara prior to carrying out his plan to kill her included that she should leave her iPhone at home, Mr Guerin said.

He said all the elements of the plan, the isolation, the location carefully checked the night before, the vulnerable person, the plan to make it look like suicide, the plan to reduce the blood spray, telling Ms O’Hara she would be naked.

“Everything points to this carefully elaborated and thoughtful plan being implemented on the day,” Mr Guerin said.

He told the jury there was no way that what had happened to Ms O’Hara on August 22nd 2012, happened “on her own”.

She had had the assistance of someone on the day.

“If she had the assistance of someone, then who was that person?”

He said all the evidence pointed to it being Graham Dwyer.

Mr Guerin said the first thing the jury had to think about was who was the person who brought Ms O’Hara up to Killakee mountain, and whether it have possibly been anyone other than Graham Dwyer?

The other thing was whether she was suicidal and whether she had formed a suicidal intent at that stage and intended to act upon it.

“That is a difficult question,” he said.

Mr Guerin said he was not going to suggest for a moment that the question of suicide wasn’t one that had crossed Ms O’Hara’s mind.

But he asked the jury to consider what evidence there was to support the idea that she had died in such a manner.

He recalled the evidence of Ms O’Hara’s father, Frank, who had said she had been in “extremely good form” when she left his house on August 22nd, 2012.

She had been looking forward to the Tall Ships festival the following day.

Mr Guerin told the jury to bring to bear the experience of their own lives, and he noted that suicide may have touched some of them.

Probably the most defining feature of suicide was “a loss of hope”, the loss of a feeling that there was anything to look forward to, and the loss of a feeling that the person had anything to contribute.

He questioned whether Elaine O’Hara’s circumstances when she went missing on August 22nd, 2012 bore any resemblance to those of a person who had lost hope.

Medical reports had shown there were “distinct improvements” in Ms O’Hara’s ability to manage her moods, her feelings and her life at that time, the jury heard.

Mr Guerin told the jury the idea of stabbing a woman had been on Mr Dwyer’s mind for 20 years, from the time he told his former partner Emer MacShea it was his fantasy.

Counsel detailed text messages alleged to have been exchanged between Ms O’Hara and the defendant, which he said indicated Mr Dwyer was “pushing her towards the edge”.

One text to her allegedly from Mr Dwyer said: “The way out is through me.”

Ms O’Hara’s replies to him indicated she was “scared” and concerned about her “punishment”.

But he said the responses also showed Ms O’Hara was “not going to allow herself to be killed”. She had in some texts clearly told him to “stop” when he spoke about killing her.

One text to the phone allegedly used by Mr Dwyer asked if he could keep visible marks (on her body) “to a minimum”. Mr Guerin questioned why someone would be concerned about visible marks if they were thinking about suicide.

“She has not given up on life or hope,” he said.

Mr Guerin said Elaine O’Hara had “a chronic psychiatric condition and that was always there, it was not going to go away”.

“But this was someone who had plans for the next day.” This did not indicate she was suicidal, Mr Guerin said.

Mr Guerin concluded the prosecution case at 12.30pm.