THE DOCTOR who examined Ms Rocca after the alleged assault told the High Court her injuries corresponded with her story of having been punched or kicked.
Dr Stephen Murphy, Ms Rocca's doctor, of Park Clinic Cabinteely, said he later met Mr David Marshall, the man who had been asleep in the other bed, and Mr Marshall "told me he closed his eye and pretended to be asleep".
Dr Murphy advised Ms Rocca to have photographs taken of her injuries and to contact a solicitor. She had numerous bruises, a nasal fracture, a black eye, lacerations, and was very distressed. At later consultations she needed reassurance that the physical aspects would diminish. He had felt the trauma would take a considerable time to resolve.
He called to Ms Rocca's home on Sunday, March 22nd 1992, at 7.30 p.m. Ms Rocca was very distressed and crying. She told him she had been assaulted at a party the previous evening by Mr Cathal Ryan.
Dr Murphy said Ms Rocca told him she had gone into a bedroom and had been punched, kicked, dragged by the hair and held tightly around one elbow and around her neck. He gave her a detailed examination.
He said she had a 6-cm blood clot on her right upper temple, a 5-cm blood clot at her right eye, a black left eye, and a 1 1/2 cm laceration to the left side of the bridge of her nose.
She also had 5-cm abrasions at the front of her right elbow, like scratch marks, and 3-cm bruising in front of the left upper arm. She had bruising around the front of her right thumb, three areas of bruising in front of the right leg, a bruise above and below her knee and on the right ankle.
Other injuries were bruising above the left knee, small bruising inside her left knee and on the front of the left leg. She had a 1cm cut to the left side of her upper lip which was still bleeding, a small cut to the top back side of her tongue and an 8 cm bruise on the left side of her chest.
Three bruises on the back of her neck appeared to have been caused by finger pressure. Dr Murphy said this was significant, as Ms Rocca had told him she had been held at the neck and the marks corresponded to finger marks. He tested it with his own fingers. Substantial pressure must have been applied.
Ms Rocca also had a 4 cm bruise at the back of her right elbow, a bruise on her bottom and another at the top of her left leg at the back.
Mr Nicholas Kearns SC, for Ms Rocca, asked what caused the injuries and what sort of force would have been needed. Dr Murphy said it would have needed not inconsiderable force for somebody using something blunt, which most bruises suggested. They were consistent with the story he had been told. They corresponded with punches or kicks.
Ms Rocca was in pain and was very distressed by what had happened. He gave her painkillers and sedation. He wanted her to be X rayed at the Blackrock Clinic the next day.
He suggested she have photographs taken and consult a solicitor. As it appeared to have been as assault, it would be his standard practice. Two days later, he saw her in his consulting rooms. She was less distressed than on the Sunday and was making more sense.
The injuries had changed. They were going through their normal resolution and she now had two black eyes and swelling and had two new bruises on her face. Bruising also appeared around her right elbow. He advised her to continue the painkillers and sedatives.
A little over a week after the initial examination on March 30th, he saw Ms Rocca again and she was still distressed. There was a swelling on the right side of the skull and it was still quite marked. The bridge of her nose had swollen up. The bruises had changed colour. There was quite a lot of pain.
Ms Rocca needed complete reassurance that the physical aspects would diminish in time. This, given her occupation, would be very important to her. He expected her injuries would be resolved over some weeks. The trauma, he, felt, would take a considerable time to resolve.
Mr Kearns asked him if he had met Mr David Marshall socially three months after the encounter, and if the matter had arisen and whether he had asked Mr Marshall what had happened.
Dr Murphy said Mr Marshall told him he had been asleep in the second bed. "He told me he was woken up by a lot of noise, shouting, and he opened one eye and saw a fight going on. Mr Ryan was removing Ms Rocca towards the door and he (Mr Marshall) told me he closed his eye and pretended to be asleep."
Cross examined by Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Mr Ryan, Dr Murphy said Ms Rocca had first come to him on May 4th, 1991. Mr Cooney said Dr Murphy advised her to have photographs taken and to get a solicitor. What business was it of his to advise a patient on a legal matter?
Dr Murphy said he was not advising her on legal matters but he had a duty of care towards his patient. When a patient was in that distressed state, he felt it was up to him to give her as much advice as he could.
Mr Cooney said Dr Murphy had taken meticulous notes of the injuries, had advised her to have photographs taken and to get a solicitor. "I suggest you were all least as much preparing her for legal proceedings as you were providing her medical care."
Dr Murphy said: "I disagree."
Mr Cooney asked what treatment Dr Murphy provided for Ms Rocca's injuries. He said there was no specific treatment for bruising. There were no indications that she needed hospital treatment for her head wound. There was no loss of consciousness.
Mr Cooney said he understood an ear, nose and throat specialist was recommended. Did he advise that?
Dr Murphy: No, I didn't think it was necessary.
At the time of the injuries, she had a displaced nasal fracture and that was usually dealt with conservatively.
Mr Cooney asked if broken noses were a fairly common injury.
Dr Murphy: Not in women, no.
Counsel asked if her fracture was just above the tip of her nose and that on a scale of seriousness of one to 10 it would be at the lower end. Dr Murphy replied he would never rate an injury that way.
Mr Cooney suggested that Ms Rocca's injuries were superficial. Dr Murphy said it depended what was meant by superficial. If he meant close to the surface, then he would agree. Mr Cooney asked if the word superficial came from the word surface. Was it fair to describe them as superficial?
Mr Justice Moriarty said: "Just do your best doctor."
Dr Murphy said, in that superficial meant close to the surface, then they were superficial.
Mr Cooney said Mr Ryan's case was that he was in the bedroom on the night in question and was asleep on top of the clothes. His companion, Ms Sarah Lindon, was asleep underneath the clothes and in the other bed was Mr Marshall.
Mr Ryan's evidence would be that Ms Rocca burst into the room, obviously in a rage, shouting obscenities and launched an attack at Ms Lindon and dragged her from the bed by her hair and she landed on the floor. Mr Ryan then went to intervene between them.