A woman was seen crying in Shanganagh Cemetery on the day Elaine O’Hara disappeared, the jury in the trial of murder-accused Graham Dwyer has been told.
Giving evidence for the defence at the Central Criminal Court, Mary Crosbie said she was visiting her mother’s grave on August 22nd, 2012, and heard someone crying “very loud”.
She said she walked toward the crying and saw a “biggish girl” facing down in the grass at the edge of a grave. She had short, mousey-brown hair and was wearing dark pants, probably tracksuit bottoms, a light- or medium-grey tracksuit top and runners with white soles.
Ms Crosbie said the woman appeared to be very upset and had her back to her. She could not see her face.
Asked by Remy Farrell SC, for Mr Dwyer, if the grave was new, Ms Crosbie said it wasn’t. “That’s what struck me, she was not recently bereaved,” she said. She put the time at between 5pm and 5.30pm.
The court heard Ms Crosbie told gardaí about the incident after reading about Ms O’Hara in a Sunday newspaper. “It had never left my mind,” she said.
Mr Dwyer (42), an architect from Kerrymount Close in Foxrock, is charged with murdering childcare worker Ms O’Hara (36) on August 22nd, 2012. He has pleaded not guilty.
Ms O’Hara was last seen at Shanganagh Park at about 5.45pm on August 22nd, 2012. Her remains were found in forestry on Killakee Mountain, Rathfarnham, on September 13th, 2013.
The prosecution’s case, alleging Mr Dwyer killed Ms O’Hara for his own sexual gratification, concluded last Friday.
Yesterday, Mr Dwyer’s defence was presented in less than 30 minutes. Three witnesses gave evidence, including Ms Crosbie and two sheep farmers.
Richard O’Connor told the jury he owned land in Kilmurry South, Calary Lower, in Co Wicklow. He said the Shankill Flying Club, of which Mr Dwyer was a member, had permission to land and take off from four acres of the land.
Dead sheep
He said he was approached by gardaí from Shankill in October 2013 about a dead sheep. “I knew nothing about it . . . I thought somebody had reported a dead sheep and maybe I was in trouble,” he said.
Mr Farrell asked Mr O’Connor whether he was in a position to assist the detectives.
“Not really,” he said. “There was a possibility there was a dead sheep because there are rushes and things in the field and it can be that a sheep might die and you wouldn’t see it for a couple of days.”
“Is that something that happens from time to time?” asked Mr Farrell.
“It does,” replied Mr O’Connor. He said an animal might be damaged by lambing and die later, or might get liver fluke or other parasites, or die from deterioration.
“Could a sheep get trapped sometimes?” asked Mr Farrell.
“Occasionally,” Mr O’Connor said, adding a sheep “could get trapped in the fencing”, but that this would normally be noticed.
“Would you have taken note if a sheep died?” Mr Farrell asked.
“The trouble is if a sheep dies and more than two days passes, there is usually very little left,” he said. “When you eventually find it you just find the skeleton and the wool.”
He said the wool would be “spread when the predators come and tear it to bits”.
“That’s the first you know when a sheep has died,” he said, before adding that the wool would not degrade “for months”.
Under cross-examination from Seán Guerin SC, for the prosecution, Mr O’Connor was asked whether it was possible one of his sheep or a stray sheep died in April 2011.
“If one died it would have been my sheep,” he said. He said he could not say “yay or nay” to a death.
The defence’s final witness was John Donohue, a sheep farmer with land adjacent to the Roundwood Flying Club in Co Wicklow.
He said he was approached by gardaí in May 2014 in relation to the death of a sheep in April 2011. He told gardaí he couldn’t remember. He also said if there was a dead sheep he would have it taken away.
Shankill Flying Club
Under cross-examination, Mr Guerin suggested Mr Donohue was “no
where near Shankill Flying Club”. The farmer agreed.
“And it would be a long way for a sheep to go,” Mr Guerin added, to laughter in the court.
Addressing the jury, Mr Justice Tony Hunt said the defence had concluded.
He advised them to listen closely to the defence and prosecution in their closing statements over the next two days. These were “important parts of the jigsaw” to consider, he said.
He said he would make his charge on Monday and they would be likely to begin their deliberations at some point on Tuesday.
The case will resume at 2pm today with Mr Guerin’s closing statement.
