ANNE CORCORAN’S killer drew gardaí a map of where he burned and buried her body after a garda recognised him from CCTV footage withdrawing money from her bank account.
Oliver Hayes (49), was arrested on February 5th, 2009, at his house on Clancool Terrace, Bandon, where the painter has admitted killing the Cork widow over a fortnight earlier.
Hayes has pleaded guilty to Ms Corcoran’s manslaughter, but not guilty to murdering her between January 19th and 21st, 2009.
He admits falsely imprisoning her and stealing €3,000 from her account after she went missing from her home at Maulnaskimlehane, Kilbrittain, near Bandon.
Det Garda James Fitzgerald told the Central Criminal Court that in the days before the arrest, he viewed CCTV footage of a man in a hood parking his van and taking money from an ATM in Bandon.
The transaction times coincided with the account being debited after her disappearance.
“I suspected that the person depicted was Oliver Hayes. He fit his description and height, and walked with a peculiarity of his right leg,” he told Hayes’s trial.
“There were various identifying marks on his van, a dent on the left pillar of the windscreen and damage to the back,” he said.
Det Garda Fitzgerald went to Hayes’s home on February 5th and arrested him on suspicion of murdering Anne Corcoran.
Hayes was interviewed by other officers that day. That night he requested to see Det Garda Fitzgerald, who he had known since the late 1970s.
“Oliver Hayes outlined that when the gardaí came to his home that morning, it had effectively ended his life. He said he was reared by a family other than his own,” recalled the detective. “He was upset and sweating. I asked him to assist in finding Anne Corcoran’s body.”
Det Garda Bart O’Leary testified that Hayes “seemed like a broken man” as he spoke to his colleague about being fostered, his upbringing and sad life.
“He told us where he’d burned and buried Anne Corcoran’s body and we asked him to draw a sketch,” recalled the detective. Copies of the map were given to the jury. Det Garda O’Leary and Det Garda Tomas O’Sullivan went to Kilmore Woods, Garrettstown, the next morning. “We followed the instructions given to us the previous night. We came to a barrier and parked there,” he said of the forested area near Ballinspittle.
“We proceeded down a pathway for 400 metres. On the left side there was an entrance to the small quarry,” he continued.
“There was a rusty barrel to the right hand side. I saw what appeared to be a heap of stones and gravel covered by fresh fir tree clippings.”
Satisfied that they had found the grave described by the killer, they called their inspector and preserved the scene until more gardaí arrived. Photographs of the scene were shown to the jurors.
The jury also saw the video tape of the first interview with Hayes, conducted on February 5th, 2009.