Freshford murder trial: Pathologist has "never” seen similar bruising to the eyes from a simple fall down the stairs, murder trial hears

A pathologist has told the trial of a man accused of murdering his partner that the deceased’s injuries were not consistent with a “simple fall down the stairs”

Renars Veigulis (32) of Old Bridge Street in Freshford, Co Kilkenny has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Rita Apine (29) at their home on or about May 14, 2017.

Mr Veigulis maintains that his partner fell down the stairs, while the jury has heard evidence that her injuries were inconsistent with a simple fall.

State Pathologist Dr Linda Mulligan gave evidence todayto Vincent Heneghan SC, for the prosecution, that she attended the scene at Old Bridge Street on May 15, 2017 and subsequently conducted a post mortem examination on the body of Ms Apine.

Dr Mulligan said the there was extensive blood staining in the hallway of the apartment as well as shoe prints and foot prints in blood. The stairs was covered in a worn blue carpet and at the bottom of the stairs, there was blood staining all over a child-proof gate. She said a blood-stained slipper was at the bottom of the stairs and another slipper was on the tenth step.

“The rest of the house was neat and tidy with no sign of disturbance,” Dr Mulligan said. 

Dr Mulligan concluded that the deceased died from massive blood loss as a result of blunt force trauma to the head. There were three separate “full thickness lacerations” over the right side of Ms Apine’s head. They were in close proximity but all had “different shapes” and “different impact surfaces” . There was no skull bone fracture.

She said the deceased had bruising to both eye areas which were usually caused by direct trauma to that area of the face.

She said the deceased had bruising to both forearms which indicated blunt force trauma and “possibly represent defensive injuries”. However, when the bruising to the forearms was considered in conjunction with injuries to Ms Apine’s legs, she said a fall down the stairs could not be “excluded” as the cause of those bruises. 

Overall, Dr Mulligan said Ms Apine’s injuries were not consistent with a simple fall down the stairs. 

She said citalopram, an anti-depressant drug, was found in the deceased’s body at “therapeutic” levels. 

She said Ms Apine had a tattoo on one of her arms which read “through pain comes strength”. 

Under cross examination from Michael Bowman SC, for the defence, Dr Mulligan agreed with Mr Bowman that a person falling down the stairs might naturally put their arms out to break their fall.

Dr Mulligan accepted that there were injuries consistent with a fall down the stairs. However, she said there were other injuries, such as the direct impact to both of Ms Apine’s eyes, that could not easily be explained by a fall down the stairs. She said she had "never" seen those injuries from a fall down the stairs.

In terms of scenarios, Mr Bowman said it was an "unobserved" fall and one “hypothesis” for the cause of Ms Apine's death was the alleged use of a weapon.

Dr Mulligan said the three lacerations to the right side of Ms Apine's head had three different shapes and three different impact surfaces. "I don't know how they were caused”. She said the bruises were sustained in the 24 hours prior to death.

She accepted that the tram line bruising found on Ms Apine's body may have been caused by the long bars of the child-safety gate located at the bottom of the stairs.

She agreed that two common side effects of the antidepressant, found in Ms Apine’s system, were dizziness and drowsiness. However, Dr Mulligan said you wouldn't expect side effects from the levels of the drug found in Ms Apine's body.

Mr Bowman said there were any number of ways to fall down a stairs. He said one could lose one’s balance, for whatever reason, and fall fall forwards or backwards. He said one could fall "end over end" and one could "flip over” but the result was always a fall. 

Dr Mulligan agreed with Mr Bowman’s proposition that a 5ft 3inch women, standing on the tenth step of a staircase, wearing slippers, would first fall five feet and three inches. She agreed that once the person passes the “horizontal plain”, they're going to fall further until they hit a step and continue falling until they’re fall is broken by a collision with something.

She said she wasn't provided with measurements or the gradient of the stairs or the height of the steps.

The jury also heard today/yesterday evidence of text messages sent between Mr Veigulis and Ms Apine in the days and weeks before her death. The texts were translated from Latvian to English for the jury.

Garda Michael Corcoran, from Kilkenny garda station, confirmed to Mr Heneghan, for the prosecution, that Ms Apine sent a number of separate texts to Mr Veigulis on April 3, 2017 which read: “Fuck. I’m so tired of you”; “Please leave as quickly as possible”; “I can’t stand you anymore. I hope you will go your own way”; “You’re using bad language in the child’s presence, when will this come to an end?”.

Garda Corcoran confirmed a subsequent text exchange between Ms Apine and Mr Veigulis. Ms Apine told Mr Veigulis that he would “benefit from military service” as it would make him “a man”. 

In reply, Mr Veigulis told his partner: “I’m not as good or brave as your ex-military husband. I’m just a rug to wipe your feet on”. In another text message, he told her: “You like to smile and laugh while talking to other men”. 

Garda Corcoran agreed, under cross examination from Mr Bowman, for the defence, that from the end of March to May, the couple were “unpleasant to each other” from time to time. But there was nothing “overtly menacing” or “overtly threatening”, the garda agreed, and only twice were expletives used, by Ms Apine. 

Garda Corcoran accepted that the messages were not “entirely representative of the relationship”. He confirmed a number of other exchanges, some sent on the same day as the one’s read previously, contained pleasantries and enquiries on how one another’s day was going. 

The garda accepted that whatever had gone on between them, by May 11, the couple were preparing to travel to buy a car the following day, the 12th. 

Mr Bowman said it would be for the jury to make a judgment call on the text messages. 

The trial continues tomorrow before a jury of seven men and five women with Ms Justice Tara Burns presiding.