THE JURY yesterday heard further details from statements by a man charged with the murder of a 60-year-old widow in Co Cork.
The Central Criminal Court jury spent yesterday watching a Garda interview with Oliver Hayes from last February. He had already confessed to killing Anne Corcoran, but was giving a more detailed account.
Hayes, who walked marathons, walked several kilometres to her house. “I had an idea she would have because she had a farm,” he said.
He drove Mrs Corcoran back to Bandon in the boot of her car, her hands tied.
Hayes (49), Clancool Terrace, Bandon, told gardaí he beat the widow unconscious on January 19th last year, after abducting her from her home at Maulnaskimlehane, Kilbrittain. He discovered she was dead the next morning, but continued with his routine.
The painter has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but not guilty to murdering her between January 19th and 21th, 2009. He admits falsely imprisoning her, and stealing €3,000 from her bank account.
“I wanted to bring her to my house to get her to talk,” he said. She asked him where she was but he didn’t tell her the address.
“I tied her up better. There was old electrical cable that I was able to wrap right around her hands,” he said. “I then gagged her with an old piece of a shirt.” After 10 minutes, she told him her pin and where her bank card was in her house.
“I was afraid she’d escape while I was gone,” he said. “I thought I’d knock her out.” He did so with a kitchen worktop after failing with a piece of timber.
He found the card and drove home. His victim was still unconscious, and he went to bed, but she was not breathing in the morning.
“I didn’t know what to do next,” he said. “I went to take my girlfriend up to do home help for her brother. I had to take her up anyway. She’d be wondering.” He returned about 5pm.
“It was the same. There was a lot of blood around the place,” he said, confirming that she was cold. He covered her with a cardboard box so he would not have to see her, and stayed in another room for the evening, leaving to move her car and withdraw her cash.
Later he described disposing of her body. “I had to stop a good few times,” he said of carrying her from his van to a stone pit in a forest. He burned the body before covering it with earth and stones.
Hayes burst into tears as he recalled returning to her house afterwards to feed her dogs. “I didn’t want them to suffer,” he cried. The trial continues.