The murder trial of Graham Dwyer has heard he was engaged in a sexual relationship with Elaine O’Hara which featured acts of stabbing for the purposes of sexual gratification.
Childcare worker Ms O’Hara (37), from Killiney in Dublin was last seen at about 6.15pm on August 22nd, 2012, near Shanganagh cemetery in south Dublin, where her mother is buried.
Her remains were found in undergrowth more than a year after her disappearance by a woman walking her dog at Killakee, Rathfarnham.
Mr Dwyer (42), a south Dublin architect, is accused of her murder on August 22nd, 2012 , hours after she was discharged from St Edmonsbury Hospital in Lucan, where she had been a psychiatric patient. He has pleaded not guilty.
Mr Dwyer, a father of two from Kerrymount Close in Foxrock, Dublin 18, was arrested in October 2013. His defence team is led by Remy Farrell SC and the prosecution is lead by Seán Guerin SC.
Opening the prosecution case before the jury of five women and seven men at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin this morning, Mr Guerin said the relationship between Mr Dwyer and Ms O’Hara was “an unusual one”.
“They had a sexual relationship,” he said. “That relationship was an unusual one because it featured acts of stabbing committed by Graham Dwyer on Elaine O’Hara. That was a feature of the sexual relationship between them.”
He added that the stabbing was intended to fulfill a sexual desire of Mr Dwyer’s.
“He arranged to meet her at Shanganagh, to take her up the mountain and kill her in satisfaction of that desire,” he said.
Mr Guerin told the jury that they would see about 400 pieces of evidence. He drew the jury’s attention eight to eight particular exhibits, including two phones and a laptop found in Ms O’Hara’s home following her disappearance. He said they also included two mobile phones found with her keys in Vartry Reservoir in Wicklow in September 2013, after the water level had dropped from 20 feet to two feet following the particularly warm summer.
He said that, following the discovery of her remains, the gardai researched her apartment and seized her mattress. The DNA profile of semen found on the mattress matched that of the accused, he said.
Mr Guerin also said gardai managed to extract data from Ms O’Hara’s two phones, as well as from the phones that had spent a year in the reservoir. He said that the prosecution would prove that one of the numbers with which the deceased was communicating belonged to Mr Dwyer.
He added the two reservoir phones had also been used by the accused and Ms O’Hara. He said that the content of the messages showed that they had a sexual relationship and that relationship was an unusual one.
Mr Guerin said Ms O’Hara’s sexual preference was for an “extremely submissive” relationship.
“Her sexual preference was for restraints, being tied, up, controlled by another person, punished by another person,” he said. “Now, there are limits to that and that is perfectly clear from the text messages.”
“The texts tell the story of that relationship,” he said. He said the first text dated from 2011, but referred to a relationship that had existed between them years earlier.
Mr Guerin said Mr Dwyer’s preference was “different” and cited text messages from a phone with an 083 number he said belonged to Mr Dwyer.
One message from the phone in April 2012 read: “I’m a sadist. I enjoy others’ pain. You should help me inflict pain on you and help me with my fantasies.”
Another message read: “I want to stick my knife in flesh while I am sexually aroused. Blood turns me on and I’d like to stab a girl to death some time.”
Mr Guerin said that interest of Mr Dwyer’s was not shared by Ms O’Hara.
He also said Ms O’Hara had been involved in a number of self-harm incidents and attempts at suicide. “A feature of that is that if Ms O’Hara was suicidal she might allow herself to be stabbed by Mr Dwyer,” said Mr Guerin.
Another message read: “If you ever want to die, promise me I can do it.”
Ms O’Hara responded: “Yes, I promise, sir.”
At a later date, while Ms O’Hara was said to be studying for an exam and complaining of tiredness to Mr Dwyer, he is alleged to have sent her a message which read: “I know you want it. Thirty seconds to slip into oblivion.”
He added that this theme is replicated throughout the messages but that it was only “one feature”.
“This was a very manipulative and abusive relationship,” he said. He sought to take advantage of her vulnerability and weaknesses. He wanted to get her used to the idea that what he wanted was normal.”
He read another text to the court from the phone he argues belonged to Mr Dwyer: “My urge to rape, stab or kill is huge. You have to help me control or satisfy it.”
There was “extensive discussion about the possibility of him stabbing someone,” he said.
There was also a “threat element”, with another text message reading: “You have to help me or it will be you.”
Another message told Ms O’Hara she would be “stabbed in the guts”, Mr Guerin said.
The relationship had begun to ease off and become less intense in the previous months, counsel said.
On the day of her disappearance, Ms O’Hara was worried about meeting for sexual interaction outdoors as they might get caught, the court heard.
Mr Dwyer’s text message told her he had found “a really remote place”, said Mr Guerin.
She asked him not to mention killing for a while until she “got settled” back into her routine after her hospital stay.
The court heard he said their meeting would only be about his “pretending to do someone for real”. He told her to park at Shanganagh Cemetery, to only bring keys, and to head for the railway bridge.
“Mr Dwyer thought about how he could kill a woman and get away with it,” said Mr Guerin. “He thought about what evidence would be available. He thought with great care about that.”
Mr Guerin said Mr Dwyer had not been getting what he wanted or as often in the previous months. “What appears to be different is that the person who wants to renew the relationship is Mr Dwyer,” he said. “That gives him the reason to put in place the various steps of this plan.”
Mr Guerin described Ms O’Hara as “the perfect victim” for Mr Dwyer’s purposes. “She had a psychiatric illness. She had just come out of hospital. He told her to meet him at Shanganagh, and then look for the railway bridge by the sea.”
He said there would be no suspicion if a woman with mental illness came out of hospital, travelled to Shanaganagh to see her mother’s grave, and then walked towards the sea. “There would be every reason to think that it was the suicide that it looked like,” he said.
“This was, in fact, the nearly perfect murder, but for the fact that 2013 was such a warm summer,” he said.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Anthony Hunt.
