A Cork man whose body was found in a derelict house in 1997 was beaten to death with weapons that included a toaster and a flowerpot-holder, a Garda scenes-of-crime examiner told a murder trial jury yesterday.
At his retrial in the Central Criminal Court, Mr William Carroll (52), of no fixed address, pleaded not guilty to the murder of Thomas Harte (40), Allen's Square, Ballymacthomas, Cork, in a derelict house in Leitrim Street in the city between May 19th and 20th, 1997.
Opening the case before a jury Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, said that Thomas Harte sustained a total of 67 injuries to the head.
Multiple blows to the head were in keeping with blows from a blunt instrument, and one of the weapons used was a toaster, Mr Vaughan Buckley said.
Forensic examiners found blood matching Thomas Harte's on the electric toaster. They also found blood consistent with Mr Harte's on clothes worn by the accused man.
The house Mr Harte died in was known as "the skip" and was used by local winos and down-and-outs, amongst them the accused man.
Counsel for the DPP alleged that he was part of a "joint enterprise" with a younger man to kill or seriously injure Thomas Harte.
"Very severe injuries" were inflicted on the deceased by the accused and the younger man, whom the accused was encouraging, Mr Vaughan Buckley said.
He said that Mr Harte was last seen alive at around 11 a.m. on Monday, May 19th, 1997. A garda found his body in the front room of the house at 11:20 a.m. the following day.
In evidence Det Garda John O'Neill, a fingerprint examiner at the Garda Technical Bureau, said blood spatters covered a large area beyond the body.
He said the "most striking thing" he examined at the scene was a bloodstained toaster, which had an electric flex attached to it. It was found beneath an upturned chair close to where the body lay.
"I would have regarded it as a very likely murder weapon in view of the injuries to the deceased and the blood on it, plus the blood spatterings on the wall," he said.
He said that close to the window in the front room he also found an ornamental metal flowerpot-holder that was designed to be wall-mounted.
He noted damage to the side of the flowerpot-holder and what looked like blood on it. "It struck me as a likely weapon as well," he said.
Det Garda O'Neill told the court that he found no fingerprint evidence on either the toaster or the flowerpot-holder.
He found a finger mark in blood on an empty bottle of Scotch whisky discovered close to the body.
On examination, the mark turned out to be the palm print of a witness for the prosecution, whose evidence will be heard later in the trial.
The case continues today before a jury and Mr Justice Carney.