Blood on shoes of Athy accused matches deceased’s DNA, trial told

A forensic scientist has told a murder trial jury that blood stains found on a pair of runners belonging to the accused matched the DNA profile of the deceased.

Seamus Morgan (49) with an address at The Hollands, Athy, Co Kildare is charged with murdering Laurence Keane (56) in the town on July 19th 2013.

On Monday at the Central Criminal Court Mr Morgan pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Keane.

Today prosecution counsel Mr Tom O’Connell SC called Detective Sergeant Sean Boland from Newbridge Garda station to give evidence.

Det Sgt Boland told the court that on July 19th 2013 he went to Seamus Morgan’s house to carry out a search where a pair of runners were seized.

The court heard gardaí at the time were also looking for “a weapon used to kill Mr Keane” but it was never found.

Det Sgt Boland told the court Mr Morgan was not arrested on that date but was arrested on July 25th when gardaí went to his home and told him they were “arresting him on suspicion of the murder of Laurence Keane”.

The court heard the accused was then taken to Kildare Garda station where he was detained for a period of 24 hours and visited by his solicitor.

Det Sgt Boland agreed with Mr Tom O’Connell that the accused “denied killing Laurence Keane.”

Det Sgt Boland also agreed with counsel that “Mr Morgan said things about his relationship with Mr Keane and he said when he left him in the lane-way he was still alive.”

The witness also agreed with defence counsel Mr Sean Gillane SC that in the course of Mr Morgan's detention he told gardaí "his differences with Mr Keane had been settled, he left Larry Keane at the top of the hill, Larry Keane had problems getting up the hill, there was no scuffle, he accepted he was in the lane-way but did not kill Larry Keane."

Det Sgt Boland agreed with prosecution counsel Mr O’Connell that on April 23rd 2014 Mr Morgan was “rearrested for the murder of Mr Keane” as new evidence “had come to light.”

Forensic scientist Dr Hilary Clarke of the Forensic Science Lab was then called by the prosecution to give evidence and she told the court she received a number of physical exhibits relating to this investigation including a pair of runners belonging to the accused.

Dr Clarke told the court she received the runners on July 20th 2013 in a sealed bag from the exhibits officer in the case.

“They were damp when I received them, I dried them overnight and sampled them the following day,” said Dr Clarke.

“There were small blood stains on both the left and right runner, the toe area of both runners and on the inner side of the tongue area of the left runner,” she said.

The court heard she developed a DNA profile from the sample of the blood stain from the toes of both runners and the tongue of the left runner which “matched the profile of Larry Keane.”

“The estimated chance of finding this profile if the DNA had come from somebody other than Larry Keane is considerably less than one in a thousand million,” said Dr Clarke.

The niece of Mr Keane, Michele Keane who is also from Athy was then called to give evidence and she told the court on July 18th 2013 she saw her uncle in the company of Seamus Morgan at the Barrow Bridge when she drove by at 10.10pm.

The trial continues.