The content of texts about work, social life and family life contained on two “disputed” mobiles mirrored details of Graham Dwyer’s life, counsel for the prosecution has told the jury in his closing statement in the trial.
Seán Guerin SC, told the jury it was the prosecution’s case that the data from two “disputed” phones over lengthy periods of time showed there was nothing inconsistent with the suggestion that they were being used by Mr Dwyer.
Mr Dwyer (42), an architect from Kerrymount Close in Foxrock, is charged with murdering Ms O’Hara, who was aged 36, on August 22nd, 2012. He has pleaded not guilty.
Ms O’Hara was last seen near Shanganagh cemetery at about 5.45pm on that date. Her remains were found in forestry on Killakee Mountain, Rathfarnham, on September 13th, 2013.
Beginning his closing statement shortly after 2pm on Thursday, Mr Guerin said Ms O’Hara had had the misfortune to be in a situation where she had been amenable to be brought along as part of the defendant’s plan to kill her, and her circumstances had enabled him to exploit her for the purpose he had in mind.
Mr Guerin said it was the prosecution’s case that the defendant had murdered Elaine O’Hara by stabbing, having arranged to lure or bring her up the mountains for that purpose. He said the killed was for the purpose of satisfying a “deep-seated sexual desire”.
Speaking about the phone evidence produced in the case, Mr Guerin told the jury that the content of texts from phones the prosecution alleges were used by Mr Dwyer “holds up a mirror” to the life of Mr Dwyer.
He said the texts mirrored Mr Dwyer’s life to an extent that was “extraordinary” and to an extent that would make it utterly impossible for the phones to have been used by anyone other than the defendant.
Mr Guerin took the jury through a series of text messages heard during the trial, which he claims match events in Mr Dwyer’s life at the same point in time.
They included texts from one of the phones making reference to a new baby, which Mr Guerin said coincided with the birth of Mr Dwyer’s daughter; texts about a holiday at a time when Mr Dwyer was taking time off work and texts about a woman in the US who the texter said had asked him to kill her.
Mr Guerin said the jury knew this to be Darci Day, who gave evidence in the trial. He said the texts, in April 2011, coincided with a time when Mr Dwyer was in contact with Ms Day.
Mr Guerin noted what he said was a “crucial” exchange with Ms O’Hara in texts when she asked: “What about the woman in the US?, meaning Darci Day.
The reply by text was that this would “cost thousands” and that the person replying could not wait that long to “sink my knife into flesh” and to watch blood pouring.
"The tragedy is that the combination of Elaine O'Hara's weakness and her availability to Graham Dwyer meant that even though he had to wait, she was the easier target," Mr Guerin said.
The data from two “disputed” phones over lengthy periods of time also showed there was nothing inconsistent with the suggestion that they were being used by Mr Dwyer, Mr Guerin said.
He noted the pattern of movement of the two phones also “exactly matches” the movements of Mr Dwyer. Whether that was Cork, Tipperary or Howth, wherever Mr Dwyer went, those phones were “stuck to him like a shadow”.
The prosecution counsel also said on the one “very rare occasion” when Mr Dwyer had gone “north of the Liffey” to be at a Bord Pleanala hearing, one of the two disputed phones - called “master phone” had been topped up in the area at the same time. Both Mr Dwyer’s work phone and the master phone were also connecting to cells in the area, Mr Guerin said.
“They tell the story of his life in this period.”
“Wherever he goes, the phones go. They are stuck to him like a shadow.”
There was no inconsistency between the movement of the phones that would suggest “at any stage” that it was a different person to Mr Dwyer using them, counsel told the jury. He said this was circumstantial evidence but it led to “no other possible” conclusion than that the phones belonged to Mr Dwyer.
Mr Guerin noted a phone registered in the name ‘Goroon Caisholm’ had been saved in Elaine O’Hara’s phone under the name ‘Graham’.
That name was also “obviously a corruption” of the name Gordon Chisholm, a friend and acquaintance of Mr Dwyer’s.
Mr Guerin also told the jury Ms O’Hara’s disappearance reflected almost “point by point” the plan Mr Dwyer had elaborated on over a period of time.
The defendant had arranged it more or less so that it would look as though what had happened was death by suicide, and that had nearly worked out for him, Mr Guerin said.
Mr Guerin told the jury it was not in dispute that Mr Dwyer had had a sexual relationship with Ms O’Hara, as he had admitted this himself during Garda interviews.
He suggested, however, that this admission was “not anything like an admission of the whole truth, or the full truth”.
Mr Guerin told the jury the defendant had used Ms O’Hara’s illness against her to destroy whatever sense of self-worth she had.
A text exchange in July 2011, indicated there had “clearly been another stabbing” even though Ms O’Hara had told Mr Dwyer she did not want to be stabbed, Mr Guerin said. She had texted: “I’m sorry, Sir. I will miss you.”
As far as she was concerned, the relationship with Mr Dwyer was over.
What she was looking for, quite plainly, was “not to be stabbed, it’s not to be beaten; it’s nothing other than companionship, love and ultimately a child.”
Mr Guerin told the jury it was important to understand exactly what the relationship was between these two people. He said it was an “obvious falsehood” that Ms O’Hara had been into “knife-play” and that Mr Dwyer was not.
“The use of a knife was the only thing Graham Dwyer wanted from Elaine O’Hara,” he said.
Ms O’Hara had been “very reluctant” to give it to him and on the few occasions she did, she knew it would affect her sanity and her view of herself, he told the jury.
At a low point after some years when Ms O’Hara had been coping “reasonably well”, Mr Dwyer reacted “in the way he had always reacted”, which was to see her difficulties and her mental health problems as “an opportunity” for him to get what he really wanted.
“As soon as he gets back together with her, he wants to know if she’s having dark thoughts, if she’s suicidal.”
“This woman who has been unwell, who is going through low point, who is trying to cope, who is nervous about coping in a world outside the hospital, nervous possibly about the Tall Ships festival and meeting new people, Graham Dwyer, the man who had offered her possible affection - what does he do in this low point? [HE TEXTS HER:]“Am I right in thinking you don’t want to die anymore. That’s good news but I would do it if you wanted to.”
Graham Dwyer had an eye for the weak, counsel said. He could see in Ms O’Hara’s loneliness, weakness and isolation, the opportunity to do what he wanted to do.
The only thing he ever saw in her was to be a victim of stabbing, Mr Guerin said. In mid to late August 2012, all the pieces start to fall into place.
The greater opportunity was that the fact that she had been in hospital for the first time in years that it was “all the more likely that it could be suggested and believed that she was suicidal”.
All the people who had cared for her would be all the more likely to believe that at precisely this point in her life, she had made a decision to end her life, Mr Guerin said.
Ms O’Hara had told him it was over.
“She didn’t want his child, she didn’t want his money, she didn’t want his time, she wanted nothing to do with him.”
Earlier, Mr Guerin thanked the jury on behalf of everyone involved in the case, telling them the length of time it had taken was at the outer limits of what had been expected.
He said it had been lengthy, and the evidence had been complex and sometimes difficult.
He said it was for the prosecution to prove its case against Mr Dwyer and that the defence did not have to prove anything.
They should, he said, make up their own minds on the evidence and that they would take their direction on matters of law from the judge.
Some 197 witnesses gave evidence for the prosecution during the eight weeks of the trial. The defence called three witnesses and concluded its case on Wednesday.
Mr Guerin is expected to conclude his statement to the jury on Friday.
The case is continuing before Mr Justice Tony Hunt.