A 37-year-old man allegedly helped remove the body of a dead man after he was murdered in a Co Waterford wood, a jury at the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
The prosecution also alleges that Gary Penkert (37), Griffith's Place, Waterford, assisted in the attempt to burn the body of a 34-year-old Waterford man.
Mr Penkert has pleaded not guilty to six charges, including assisting an offender by removing and concealing the body of Mr Martin Nolan at Clondonnell Woods between November 10th, 1999, and July 5th, 2000.
He also denies perverting the course of justice by attempting to destroy by fire the body of Mr Nolan of Newtown House, Tramore, Co Waterford, on the same dates. Mr Penkert also denies withholding information about a serious offence. The court heard that on November 10th, 1999, Mr Nolan "vanished" after visiting his solicitor and accountant. A few months later, two men fishing at night in Clondonnell Woods in the Comeragh Mountains, noticed a red car. "One of them saw a fire on that particular night," prosecuting counsel Alex Owens SC, said.
On July 5th, 2000, Mr Owens said the two men were back at the woods when they made a "gruesome find". They discovered a makeshift funeral pyre with the remains of a human body. "This was the body of Martin Nolan," Mr Owens told the jury.
"Gary Penkert went to the woods believing he was going to move a quantity of drugs," Mr Owens said. But instead, the accused claims, the men he was with "uncovered a body". Mr Owens said Mr Penkert claimed that he was frightened of these two men and was told to dispose of the body. The trial continues.