The body of a murdered German tourist was so deeply hidden in dense undergrowth that a garda thought it was a roll of kitchen lino dumped in the bushes, a jury heard at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Garda Pat Kelly spoke of his shock at finding the body of Ms Bettina Poeschel in dense briars and thick ground ivy as he searched a field for her at Donore, Co Meath, on October 17th, 2001.
"I had to beat my way in with the stick, I had to force my way in," he said. "I continued along and suddenly I saw something there that didn't go with the vegetation in the area. I didn't know what it was at first, I thought it was a roll of old kitchen lino initially."
Garda Kelly was giving evidence on the second day of the murder trial of Mr Michael Murphy (42), of Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Meath. He denies the murder of the 28-year-old journalist at Donore, Co Meath, on a date between September 25th and October 17th, 2001. Ms Poeschel disappeared on September 25th as she travelled alone towards Newgrange on the last day of her holiday in Ireland.
Earlier, video footage of the last hours of Ms Poeschel was played for the jury by prosecution counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC. She was filmed on closed-circuit television at Connolly train station in Dublin standing in a queue for the Belfast Enterprise train, wearing a blue rain mac, dark jeans and carrying a black shoulder bag. Footage was then shown of Ms Poeschel passing an auctioneer's office in Drogheda town as she walked from the train station towards Donore and Newgrange.
Student Ms Siobhan Byrne gave evidence that on the night of Tuesday, September 25th, she was sitting on a wall near a quarry with two friends when she noticed a car pull up outside McWeeney's lane, known locally as "Mad Joe's Lane".
"One particular vehicle stopped at the laneway, and we were wondering if we knew the person," Ms Byrne said. "It was a black Honda Civic and it stopped there at about 8 o'clock.
"It came from the Drogheda direction. It just stopped there for about four or five minutes, and drove off into Donore. About 10 minutes later the car drove back in the direction of Drogheda. About 10 minutes later it came from the Drogheda direction and stopped at Mad Joe's Lane.
"A lorry drove by and its lights shone on this figure which we presumed was a man from his build," she said. "We saw a man going up into the laneway, he was running up it. Then we heard the car drive off in the Donore direction. We never saw it again," said Ms Byrne.
Video footage of the accused driving into a nearby petrol station on the same day was also played for the court. Mr Murphy was filmed entering the station five times, getting out to buy credit for his phone at one stage.