A YOUNG man has told the Central Criminal Court he was shown pail of a human arm and leg in a cupboard in his uncle's flat in Cork city.
Mr Michael Flannery jnr (17) said his uncle, Mr Frederick Flannery, had shown him the body pieces and told him he had killed Mr Patrick O'Driscoll an had cut up his body with a saw. His uncle also showed him a coal bag and said Mr O'Driscoll's body was inside, Mr Flannery said.
He was giving evidence on the third day of the trial of Mr Frederick Flannery (35), of no fixed abode, who has denied the murder of Denis Patrick O'Driscoll (33) at Wellington Terrace, Cork between December 15th and 31st, 1994. The Stale is contending Mr Flannery killed Mr O'Driscoll dismembered his body and disposed of it.
The witness said the defendant had told him he cut the body at the neck, at both shoulders and both elbows, chopped off the legs and cut again at the knees.
In court yesterday, Mr Michael Flannery told Mr Kevin Haugh SC, prosecuting, that he had left school without qualifications and did a FAS course in mechanics. He had been involved in a car accident and was unable to work.
He identified the defendant as his uncle, Frederick. He said his uncle had lived at Wellington Terrace and he would often visit him. Mr Patrick O'Driscoll also lived in the same house and he knew him and had been to his flat.
About a month after he last saw Mr O'Driscoll, he said, he called to Wellington Terrace and was in Mr O'Driscoll's flat with the defendant and another man. He had tea and the three of them shared three or four joints of hash. It was night time.
He said the defendant and the other man then went upstairs. He thought they went to Mr Frederick Flannery's flat. They had a bow saw, a Stanley knife and blankets he said.
He remained in Mr O'Driscoll's flat. He had the radio on and was watching television with the sound off. He did not hear anything. A woman had called to the house about 20 or 30 minutes later and the man with his uncle came down to let her in, he said. They all had tea.
The witness said his uncle came down about 10 minutes later. He said Mr Flannery asked the woman would she "dump a bit of rubbish for him". The witness said Mr Flannery then called him upstairs "and told me he was after killing Pa O'Driscoll".
"He showed me a bit of a hand," the witness said. He said the limb part included a hand, wrist and about three inches of an arm. He said he was also shown a leg with a stocking on it". The witness said that limb part included all of the foot to just above the ankle. There was a black sock with diamonds on it, he said.
Mr Flannery said both limb parts were in a cupboard in the defendant's flat. He could not see the end parts of them. "Fred said they were Pa's and he was after killing him," he said.
The witness said the defendant told him he had killed Mr O'Driscoll "about two to three weeks" earlier in Mr O'Driscoll's flat.
Mr Flannery said the defendant told him he hit Mr O'Driscoll with a hammer "once or twice" and when he had not died he had put a rope around his neck and choked him. He said the defendant said it took 10-15 minutes for death to occur.
The witness said Mr Flannery showed him a coal bag behind a chair. "I didn't see what was inside it," he said. "He said it was his body." The defendant asked him to carry another bag to a car outside. It was heavy like a half stone of potatoes and kind of round, he added.
He said he put that bag into the back seat of the car while his uncle carried the coal bag down and put it into the boot. He said "the defendant also put another "gear bag" into the boot.
Mr Flannery said the woman drove the car to another house. He and the other man also travelled n the car. At the house the bags ere taken out and put by a window sill, he said. He put the plastic bag and the gear bag by the sill while the other man put the coal bag there. The bags were later taken to a back room in the house, he said.
Mr Flannery said his uncle arrived about 10 minutes later on his motorcycle carrying blankets and he put these in the same room. His uncle later gave him a lift home, he said.
He said about a day later his uncle came to his home and he went with him on the motorcycle to the back garden of the house they had been at previously. The other man was there, he said.
He and his uncle went on the bike to Vienna Woods down by Glanmire, the witness said.
Earlier yesterday, Mr Stuart Bailey, a brother in law of Mr O'Driscoll, said he had seen him in his flat on the night of December 14th, 1994.
Mr O'Driscoll had arranged to come to dinner at his home the following Sunday but had not turned up, which he thought was unusual. Mr Bailey said he and his wife had called to Mr O'Driscoll's flat late that night but he was not there. They met Mr Flannery there and he told them he had last seen him the previous Thursday morning.
On December 28th, Mr Flannery had called and suggested they look for him, Mr Bailey said. They searched a disused railway line and in a building, some pubs and a hut. Mr Flannery was driving his motorbike and stopped outside the hut, inside which they found a box used to hold eye patches. Mr O'Driscoll used to have such boxes, Mr Bailey said.
Mr O'Driscoll was reported missing on January 2nd, 1995, he added. An earlier report of his being missing was withdrawn. Mr Bailey said he had not seen him since December 14th, 1994. He said Mr O'Driscoll did drink and did have fits.
Mr Bailey told Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, that Mr O'Driscoll grew up in Mayfield in Cork and later went to Blackrock. He said Mr O'Driscoll would almost always wear his eye patch and was conscious of his injured eye. He agreed he had sometimes spent the night in Wellington Terrace over a period of months and would stay in Mr Flannery's flat.
He said when he was in Mr O'Driscoll's flat on the night of December 18th there was a conversation about him not turning up for dinner at his home earlier.
He agreed with Mr MacEntee he was probably aware Mr O'Driscoll was due to go to Wales for treatment around that time. His wife had searched Cork for him on Monday December 19th because she was concerned for him, Mr Bailey said, but he was not worried at that time.
The trial continues today before Mr Justice Barr and a jury.