A man who admits killing his 15-year-old former girlfriend by inflicting multiple head injuries on her pleaded not guilty to her murder yesterday. Keith Kelly (22), of Colepark Drive, Ballyfermot, has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Ms Melanie Gleeson, of Colepark Road, Ballyfermot, in the grounds of the Dominican Convent, Ballyfermot, on October 31st, 1995. He is claiming a defence of provocation.
In the Central Criminal Court, before Mr Justice Smith, a jury was told that the girl's naked body was found in grass in an area of the convent known as the "Peace Garden" on the morning of November 1st, 1995. Kelly had pointed out the body to glaziers working in the area.
He later told gardai that he had struck Ms Gleeson on the head with a stone after they had sex and an argument arose over another youth he said she had admitted seeing.
Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, said that a manslaughter plea was not acceptable to the DPP. The jury had to decide whether Kelly murdered Ms Gleeson or whether he was provoked into a loss of control at the time of the killing, which, if it occurred, would reduce the offence to manslaughter.
He said when gardai were called to the scene on the morning of November 1st, they found Ms Gleeson's body in the grass. Apart from her socks, she was naked. Kelly was at the scene, crying. He explained to gardai that he had found the girl's body and that she was a former girlfriend of his.
He later made a witness statement at Ballyfermot Garda station. In the course of a second statement he told gardai that he had seen Ms Gleeson at about 9.30 the previous night at the sheds in the De La Salle school, Ballyfermot, and her face was covered in blood. She told him another named youth had hit her.
Asked if that was true by an investigating officer, Kelly had lowered his head and started crying, Mr Vaughan Buckley said. He then calmed down and said: "I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it. I was with Melanie."
In a statement made and signed under caution later that same day, November 1st, he told gardai that the pair started drinking the previous night and he asked Ms Gleeson if she was still seeing the other youth.
"She said she was and that she was up all last week with him", his statement read. "We had an argument about this." Kelly said Ms Gleeson slapped him a few times across the face and began scraping his chest and arms with her nails. "I slapped her with my open hand", he admitted. "I picked up an open can of cider and hit her with it in the head about three or four times."
She then grabbed him by the neck, he said, but he grabbed her neck and "squeezed it hard" for about a minute. "I noticed blood on her head. I got up and went for a walk to clear my head."
Mr Vaughan Buckley said he did not know whether Kelly used a cider can to hit Ms Gleeson, but he had subsequently admitted hitting her with a stone.
Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, formally admitted that his client killed Ms Gleeson with a stone in the grounds of the convent on Hallowe'en night 1995.
The defence also admitted the results of the post-mortem examination and the fact that Kelly twice visited the scene the next morning and approached the body and put his jacket over it.
The trial continues.