State's case against handyman is "clutching at straws"

The State's case against a handyman, who is accused of impeding an investigation into the dismemberment of a retired grandmother, is "clutching at straws" and there is no evidence of "concealment, lies or secrecy", his defence barrister told a jury at the Central Criminal Court yesterday (Wednesday). 

James Dwyer SC said a very specific allegation was being made against his client Keith Johnston and it was a classic case of "picking the plums and leaving the duff". 

Counsel also said yesterday that the man accused of murdering Patricia O'Connor, whose dismembered remains were found scattered at nine different locations in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains, had engaged in "scorched earth policy calculated to blame as many people as possible".

Mr Johnston has pleaded not guilty to assisting Kieran Greene in the purchase of various implements at Woodie's, Mr Price, B&Q and Shoe Zone, Tallaght, Dublin 24 on June 9, 2017, which were to be used in the concealment of the remains of Mrs O'Connor. Mr Johnston is the ex-partner of the deceased's daughter, Louise O'Connor, and is father to two of her five children.

Mr Greene (35) has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mrs O'Connor at her home in Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 on May 29, 2017. Mr Greene is the former partner of Louise O'Connor and father to three of her five children.

The trial has heard that the body of Mrs O’Connor was dismembered into 15 separate parts that were found at nine different locations over a 30km range in the Dublin and Wicklow mountains between June 10 and 14, 2017. 

Addressing the jury in his closing statement, defence counsel Mr Dwyer representing Mr Johnston said they had not heard much from him during the trial as there was not very much evidence about his client. 

He acknowledged that his case was different to the other three accused as it was not suggested that Mr Johnston was present in house on May 29 when Mrs O'Connor died. Counsel went on to tell the jury that they must ignore much of the evidence in Mr Johnston's case. 

He noted that the prosecution case against Mr Johnston was "full of speculation" and in order to convict his client the jury must be satisfied that he knew or believed that Mr Greene had unlawfully killed Mrs O'Connor and that this state of mind existed before or at the time he went on the "shopping spree". 

It is the State's case against Mr Johnston that Mrs O'Connor was already lying dead in a shallow grave in Wexford but not yet dismembered when he assisted Mr Greene in purchasing various DIY items. The accused man accepted he went on a "shopping spree" with Mr Greene the day before Mrs O'Connor's body was found dismembered in the Wicklow mountains but told gardai he had not "put two and two together". 
 

The barrister said Mr Greene had given two accounts, the first where he said he killed Mrs O'Connor in self-defence and the second where he said Augustine 'Gus' O'Connor had killed his wife. If Mr Johnston believed Mr Greene's first account then he should be found not guilty, said the lawyer, and if his client believed the second account, he should also be found not guilty because he had gone on the shopping trip, knowing or believing Mr Greene had not killed the retired hospital worker. 

However, Mr Dwyer submitted that one of these accounts was entirely false."We have no idea what Mr Johnston believed or knew and that is classic speculation," he pointed out.

Mr Dwyer said it did not need to be asked why Mr Greene had wrongly accused Mr Johnston, as his client had stepped into "his fathering role" and the accused believed a relationship was developing between Louise O'Connor and her former partner, Mr Johnston. Mr Greene's mother, Joan Greene, had even described her son under oath as paranoid, he remarked. 

Mr Greene told gardai while on remand in Cloverhill Prison on December 9 that he had taken “the rap” and felt he was being set-up, as his girlfriend Louise O'Connor subsequently started going back out with her ex-boyfriend Keith Johnston.

The December interview given by Mr Greene, where he implicated the other three accused, was "scorched earth policy calculated to blame as many people as possible," said Mr Dwyer. 

On December 9, Mr Greene told gardai that Mr Johnston had “made a plan” and they had purchased various tools in several DIY stores on June 9 before driving to Wexford that night, where Mr Johnston spent three to four hours dismembering Mrs O’Connor’s body. He said Mr Johnston then directed him through the Dublin mountains where they disposed of her body parts and he was persuaded to take the blame. 

Mr Dwyer said his client did not go to Wexford on the night of June 9 and the evidence from his mobile phone demonstrated this. "It's consistent with Mr Johnston being at home and utterly inconsistent with any suggestion that he went to Wexford," he submitted. Evidence has been given in the trial that Mr Johnston's mobile phone "tallied" with the CCTV footage from June 9 and had pinged off a mast near his house in Tallaght on the night. 

Mr Dwyer said that much had been made of the "closeness" between Mr Greene and Mr Johnston. The prosecution used the phrase "co-dependency" to describe their relationship to suggest Mr Johnston was "in cahoots" with Mr Greene, he said. The barrister submitted that his client was a good father and regularly visited Mountainview but stressed that he did not live there and was not part of the family. The barrister said the suggestion of a friendship between the men does not help one bit. 

He said the jury could not speculate as to when Mr Johnston learned about the unlawful killing and his client told gardai that he found out about it on June 12, 2017 and encouraged Mr Greene to go to gardai. "There is no evidence to suggest he is wrong about that," he said. 

Mr Dwyer indicated that Mr Johnston had not gone to Mountainview until June 1 and evidence that no work had been done on the house in the previous ten years was incorrect. The son of the deceased, Richard O'Connor, gave evidence that the house was "constantly done up and painted", he said. 

He also pointed to interviews given by Mr Johnston to gardai in which he said that he had a nagging feeling he was cleaning up a crime scene. Mr Dwyer suggested that this was not something one would say to gardai if they were guilty of something. 

Summarising his client’s case, Mr Dwyer said a very specific allegation was being made against Mr Johnston and it was a classic case of "picking the plums and leaving the duff". 

Mr Dwyer submitted that on a reading of the evidence, it seemed things were being kept from Mr Johnston. "At the very least it raises the possibility that Mr Johnston was kept in the dark and did not know what Mr Greene was planning on this gruesome trip," he said. 

In conclusion, he said the prosecution was "clutching at straws" and there was "no concealment, no lies and no secrecy" by Mr Johnston. 

"This is a gruesome case where a gruesome crime was committed by someone. Gardai carried out an enormous investigation and cast the net wide as to all the people connected to the house but if you look at the evidence with any scrutiny, you will see it simply is not there so I invite you to return a not guilty verdict," he said.

The deceased's daughter Louise O'Connor (41) and granddaughter Stephanie O'Connor (22), both of Millmount Court, Dundrum Road, Dublin 14, and Mr Johnston (43), of Avonbeg Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin 24 are all charged with impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Mr Greene, knowing or believing him to have committed an arrestable offence, to wit the murder of Mrs O'Connor on May 29, 2017.

Stephanie O'Connor has pleaded not guilty to disguising herself as Mrs O'Connor at Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 at a point in time after her murder on May 29, 2017 in order to conceal the fact that she was already dead. 

Louise O'Connor has pleaded not guilty to agreeing to or acquiescing in her daughter Stephanie O'Connor disguising herself as Mrs O'Connor at Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 on May 29, 2017 in order to conceal the fact that Patricia O'Connor was dead. 

Mr Justice Paul McDermott will continue charging the jury of six men and six women today before they commence their deliberations. 

The lawyer for a 22-year-old woman, who is accused of disguising herself as her grandmother as a “ruse” to conceal her death, has told her trial jury that there is "no hard and direct evidence" she was away from the house during the relevant period of time.

The Central Criminal Court also heard on Wednesday morning that there was “no smoking gun” establishing the guilt of the deceased’s daughter Louise O'Connor and the prosecution had engaged in “wild speculation".

The deceased's daughter Louise O'Connor (41) and granddaughter Stephanie O'Connor (22), both of Millmount Court, Dundrum Road, Dublin 14, and Louise O'Connor's ex-partner Keith Johnston (43), of Avonbeg Gardens, Tallaght, Dublin 24 are all charged with impeding the apprehension or prosecution of Mr Greene, knowing or believing him to have committed an arrestable offence, to wit the murder of Patricia O'Connor on May 29, 2017.

Former Depute State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, has given evidence that Mrs O'Connor's head was struck a minimum of three blows with a solid implement and the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head.

Giving his closing statement, defence counsel Garnet Orange SC for Stephanie O’Connor, said Russian author Leo Tolstoy in his novel Anna Karenina had commented that “all happy families are alike; each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.” Mr Orange said considering the activities in the house at Mountainview, how correct Tolstoy was when he made these observations.

Mr Orange told the jurors that his client was Stephanie O’Connor, who was sitting in the middle of the dock, “with the odd coloured hair”, flanked by her parents.

It is the State’s case that, in order to cover up the alleged murder, Stephanie dressed up as her grandmother as "a ruse" to pretend that Mrs O'Connor had stormed out of the house on the night of May 29,2017.

Evidence has been given that a female, not identified to the jury, can be seen leaving the front of the house in CCTV footage at 9.34pm on May 29 and walking quickly down the driveway with a suitcase in her hand. The trial has heard that at 10.05pm that night, a female with a suitcase appears at the left-hand side of the house and goes in the back door. She closes the back door a minute later.

Regarding Stephanie, he said the case against her was based on “circular logic”. He drew the jury’s attention to the fact that gardai were “clearly troubled” that nobody could identify the person going down the steps on May 29 and they had sought a height analysis report. Yet this report was not made known to the defence until after the trial had begun, which he said amounted to “confirmation bias”. 

Going through the evidence in the trial, Mr Orange said that Mr Greene’s December interview should be treated as lies and it had brought “everyone’s house tumbling down”.

Mr Greene told detectives in December 2017 that Mrs O’Connor had attacked him with a hurley. He said Mrs O'Connor's husband, Augustine 'Gus' O’Connor, came into the bathroom after he fell to the ground and gave out to his wife saying: “What the fuck are you doing?” Mr Greene told detectives that Mr O'Connor had killed his wife using a crowbar and he [Mr Greene] had taken the blame.

In his original interview with gardai in June 2017, Mr Greene said he was in the bathroom when Mrs O’Connor walked in and hit him with a hurl on the wrist, saying ‘Get out, Get out'. Mr Greene said he grabbed the hurl from her, hit her and did not know what happened next as when he woke up there was blood everywhere and he panicked.

Mr Orange noted that when Louise, Stephanie and her children arrived back at the house on May 29 at 9.34pm, they are seen ambling up the driveway, the children were first to arrive and no attempt was made to hold them back.

Mr Orange suggested that there was a frailty in the CCTV footage as it did not cover the front porch of the house. 

Mr Orange asked the jury to consider that if Stephanie knew the CCTV footage covered the front and rear garden, then "why on earth would she allow herself” to be later viewed walking through the back door “carrying the very props” that were used to set up “the charade in the first place”. “How convenient for her to drop the ball so spectacularly having gone to such trouble some time earlier,” he commented. Evidence has been given that Stephanie was aware that the CCTV system covered the front and back garden of the house.

He argued that there was no hard and direct evidence which showed his client was away from the house during the relevant period of time.

Counsel suggested to the jury that whatever account “came to Stephanie”, had come from Mr Greene. “It is far more likely Mr Greene told them that while he participated in the circumstances leading to Mrs O’Connor’s death, he had not acted in a criminal way,” he said. 

Mr Orange said a laptop was turned on in Stephanie’s room at 10.10pm on May 29, where Anime cartoons were viewed and a CV was uploaded by way of a job application. He submitted that the laptop had not looked up "alibis for murder or decomposing bodies". He asked the jury if the uploading of a CV and making plans for the future was evidence of "a guilty mind at work".

In summary, Mr Orange quoted Harper Lee and his novel To Kill a Mockingbird saying: "You never understand a person until you consider things from his point of view”. He told the jurors that if they accept the prosecution's case that it was Stephanie “on the steps” of the house that night, then they must consider her state of mind and what she was aware of.

Defence counsel Michael Bowman SC, for Louise O’Connor, said his client’s case was “very different” to the other cases. There was “no smoking gun” establishing the guilt of his client on May 29, he said, adding that an evidential deficit existed. 

The prosecution had closed its case against Louise O'Connor in 15 minutes as they only had “15 minutes worth of talk” and engaged in “wild speculation", he said, adding that this was not evidence upon which the jury could act.

The only person Louise could be protecting when gardai confront her with the CCTV footage was her daughter Stephanie, he said. “Is it possible that if lies are told, they are being told by a mother to protect her daughter who may have found herself involved in this,” he asked the jury.

Mr Bowman said Louise’s brother, Richard O’Connor, had given evidence that his sister tried to dissuade him from reporting Mrs O'Connor missing. The son of the deceased had  agreed this information was not in the statement he gave to gardai on June 14, he said. 

Mr Bowman said this would have been in Richard O’Connor's statement had he told gardai, and detectives would then have been able to put it to Louise in her interviews. “She did not say this as it did not happen,” emphasised the barrister. He said there was “animus” in the family because Richard blamed his sister for what happened to their mother, as Mr Greene was in the house as a consequence of their relationship.

He said Louise, a mother-of-five, was rendered homeless as a result of what happened in the house and Richard had been “a tad judgmental”, when she moved back into house.  

In summary, he said there was no evidence against Louise in relation to the allegations made against her and urged the jury to acquit. 

Stephanie O'Connor has pleaded not guilty to disguising herself as Mrs O'Connor at Mountainview Park, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14 at a point in time after her murder on May 29, 2017 in order to conceal the fact that she was already dead.