The nephew of a Connemara man yesterday told a murder trial jury that he found him lying dead on a bed when he went to check on him at an isolated cottage in December 1997.
A garda detective told the jury that he believed Tom Clisham was violently assaulted in his kitchen and that the assault continued in the bedroom, where his body was found. He said the man was lying face down on the bed, almost naked, his hands bound at the wrists and the flesh on the top part of his body "eaten away to the bone" by domestic animals.
Another nephew, Mr Patrick Joseph McGreene (29) is accused of murdering Tom Clisham (53) between November 24th, 1997 and December 4th, 1997 at Inveran, Co Galway. He has also pleaded not guilty to causing serious harm, with intent, to his uncle, or being reckless as to whether he would cause serious harm.
In the Central Criminal Court before Mr Justice Cyril Kelly, Mr Martin Sherry (31), Corrib Park, Galway, a cousin of Mr McGreene, told Mr Michael Durack SC, prosecuting, that his uncle had asked him to move to Inveran the Christmas after his grandmother died in the cottage.
His grandmother had asked him to keep an eye on Tom if she died and he thought Tom was lonely and a bit frightened living alone.
He transferred his dole payments to Inveran and over seven months he regularly stayed there, "more or less" moving there in the end. On Hallowe'en night 1997, he was mugged in Galway city and he went back to his mother's house to recuperate. Two or three weeks later, he called in at his uncle's house to tell him he would be back in a few weeks.
He went again to his uncle's house on December 4th, 1997 after his aunt had phoned his family's house to inquire after Tom. He drove to the cottage with his sister and her children. At the house, his sister told him the latch was off in the smaller bedroom in which he had slept while he was staying there. When he looked in that window, "I saw Tom's body in the bed."
He agreed he had an argument with Tom "about six weeks previous" about land. His uncle "came in mouthing" after a night drinking in Spiddal and said all he was interested in was the land. He responded that it was Tom who had invited him to stay there and he would leave if he wanted. His uncle apologised and told him someone had been annoying him about it in the pub.
Mr John Rogers SC, defending, said he thought there were just 10 acres attached to the cottage. Mr Sherry said he was not sure but he thought his uncle had told him once it was 20.
He told Mr Rogers he did not think the argument with his uncle was "a very serious thing". His uncle had offered him the land two years before but he told him he did not mind if it was left to him but he did not want it signed over. He agreed that his uncle had had a heart condition. Det Garda Kevin Brooks of the Garda Technical Bureau earlier told Mr Durack that he examined the scene close to midnight on December 4th and on the next day.
Mr Clisham lay face down on a bloodstained bed in the smaller room, naked except for his socks. Both his wrists were "tied together by a piece of garment". The body was positioned so that the skull was at the side of the bed, "close to the floor". From samples taken from the body, there was "no suggestion whatsoever of anything sexual, whether homosexual or whatever" having transpired.
Det Garda Brooks believed Mr Clisham had been assaulted in front of the fridge in his kitchen/living room area. He told Mr Durack that from his investigation of a bloodstained area near the fridge, he concluded that "a violent assault" had taken place there while Mr Clisham was positioned "low down". The assault had moved towards the front door and into the bedroom, where the body was found. He concluded that "the assault continued in the bedroom and was very severe". Det Garda Brooks also found a broken whiskey bottle under the bed with "very sharp ends" and "a considerable amount" of blood on it.
The trial continues.