The former girlfriend of a man accused of murdering a Galway pensioner, Mr Tommy Casey, has said she and her mother knocked on the front door of the house while the accused and another man went around the back on the day the State alleges Mr Casey was murdered.
Ms Alison McCarthy, nΘe Connors, of Thurles, Co Tipperary, who admitted trespass with intent to steal Mr Casey's property and was sentenced to two years jail in 1996, said she and Mrs Kathleen Connors waited in the car for 20 minutes before the two men returned.
A Central Criminal Court jury heard that Ms McCarthy has four previous convictions for burglary and trespass. She told the trial that was all in the past and she wanted to get on with her life. Mrs Connors received a three-year sentence for her part in the burglary on Mr Casey's home.
Mr Patrick O'Connor (37), of Clonmel, Co Tipperary has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Casey (68), who died between January 15th and 23rd 1996, in Oranmore, and to trespass with intent to rob, and the assault and false imprisonment of Mr Casey.
A forensic scientist told the court he found a partial shoe print on the side of Mr Casey's left boot that suggested somebody had stepped on it. The print had a pattern of small circles. Mr John McCullough agreed with Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC, defending, that the print pattern was not similar to those on the soles of any of five shoes he examined, belonging to the two women.
The two women, the accused man and another man who was named in court were in a car garda∅ stopped in Galway city at 8.40 p.m. on January 15th, 1996, and found a dagger-type knife, a tomahawk and a wooden baton - amongst other items.
Mr O'Connor was convicted of having offensive weapons and jailed for two years. The prosecution claims the attack on Mr Casey took place earlier on the evening of January 15th, before the car was stopped.
The case continues before the jury and Ms Justice Carroll.