The trial of a man, charged with murdering his friend with a rock, has heard that he had spent that afternoon caring for snakes and other animals in a pet shop.
One of the shopkeepers was giving evidence to the Central Criminal Courton Wednesday in the Wicklow man’s murder trial.
Thomas O’Connor (29) of Burnaby Court, Greystones is charged with murdering John O’Brien, who was from Burnaby Lawns in Greystones on June 4th 2010.
The father-of-one has pleaded not guilty to murder, but guilty to the 22-year-old’s manslaughter at Farrankelly Road, Delgany, Co Wicklow. He admits hitting him over the head with a rock that night.
Adam Lally testified that he was working in a pet shop on Albert Walk in Bray that day and that that the accused had spent quite some time there.
He recalled that Mr O’Connor came into the shop around midday and spent the best part of the afternoon there. He said the accused was helping out until 4 or 5pm, feeding the pets, especially the snakes in which he had an interest.
The trial had heard last week that the accused had a pet snake at the time. His partner testified that he had it in his hands later that night, when he left their home in his boxer shorts to speak to gardaí.
Ms Justice Margaret Heneghan has told the six women and six men of the jury that they will not hear from any more witnesses until Monday. However, she warned them that they were still on jury duty and not to discuss the case with anyone.
The jury heard on Tuesday that the dead man’s skull appeared deformed when paramedics arrived at the scene.
Paramedic Francoise Coussay testified that she got a ‘Code One’ call to the scene shortly before midnight and arrived shortly afterwards.
She said that Mr O’Brien was lying semi-prone on his right side and had no pulse.
She said that all signs of life were absent and that the injuries she saw were incompatible with life.
She said she noticed that his skull appeared deformed.
Advanced paramedic Claire McCann noticed that the patient’s head and face were covered in blood. She saw fractures to his left ear and possible brain matter in his hair.
She heard nothing when she listened for breaths and heart sounds and said the cardiac machine showed a flat line.
The jury earlier heard that the deceased’s blood was identified on the defendant’s tracksuit bottoms, which were found in a bin.
Dr Diane Daly testified that she examined a heavily bloodstained rock found on Farrankelly Road, along with clothes retrieved from the rear of the accused man’s house. The court has already heard that the tracksuit bottoms were found in a bin there.
She also examined samples from a house that the accused said he had entered after fighting with the deceased; these consisted of swabs from door handles.
She said she was looking for skin cells on the rock to try to identify the holder, and for blood on the clothes and door handles.
She said the door handles were bloodstained and that the DNA profile from the blood matched that of the deceased.
“The rock was heavily bloodstained with contact blood staining on one side,” she said. “Pieces of cellular tissue and broken hairs were adhering to it.”
She said that DNA from the blood and and non-bloodstained surface of the rock matched that of the deceased.
The tracksuit bottoms were also bloodstained and the blood’s DNA profile matched that of the deceased.
The major DNA profile from the inside waistband of the tracksuit bottoms matched that of the accused.
Under cross examination by Fergal Kavanagh SC, defending, she agreed that the purpose of testing the areas of the rock that were not bloodstained was to see if another profile could be obtained.
She also agreed that she could not rule out that the deceased had handled the rock.