Victim's daughter recalls 'wonderful' mother at murder trial
A 65-year-old woman shot to death in her bedroom had moved to sleep in that bedroom because “she thought she would be safer” there, her daughter told the trial of two Dublin men accused of her murder, at the Central Criminal Court today.
Conor Grogan, aged 26, of Avonbeg Park, Tallaght, Dublin, and Timothy Rattigan, aged 26, of St Dominick’s Terrace, Tallaght, Dublin, have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mrs Joan Casey, aged 65, at Avonbeg Park on April 3, 2004.
The victim’s daughter, Ms Martina Casey, told the court how she used to visit her mother a few times a week.
The last time Martina saw her mum was three days before her death. “I spoke to her that Thursday and I spoke to her on Friday, I spoke to her every day,” she said quietly.
Martina, one of five children, identified her mother’s body at Tallaght Hospital morgue that Saturday.
She described her mother as a “wonderful, wonderful, wonderful lady”.
“She did everything for the church. She didn’t even have a car but she went up every week to deliver the Eucharist to the sick people in the hospital,” Martina said.
Her mother would “do everything” for the family, the court heard.
“And she was always worried about my health, that I was eating properly,” Martina said.
The jury was told how Mrs Casey’s bedroom window was smashed in on a Saturday night in November 2003.
“I went over to her that Sunday and she was very, very nervous about the window being smashed in,” she said.
“She moved to the back bedroom because she thought she would be safer,” Martina said.
That bedroom used to be Martina’s room, the court heard.
Mrs Casey died in her daughter’s former room after two shots were fired through the bedroom door, one of them hitting her in the chest.
The deceased was separated from her husband of 44 years, Dominick Casey, who lived in a converted shed in the back garden.
Mr Casey had heard “nothing whatsoever” that morning and was woken by a garda.
“I woke up, I just remember the garda pointing the gun at me, he just told me to come up the front,” Mr Casey said.
“I didn’t realise that something was badly wrong,” he said.
The court heard from Detective Garda Mark Collander who was part of the investigating team. He spotted a blue bag near a flat complex close to the victim’s home.
“It had a 12-gauge shotgun, which was taken down into three pieces, and I found a pistol, three live cartridges and in the breach end of the shotgun I observed two discharged shotgun cartridges,” he said.
The court also heard from Mr Conleth Grogan, the father of the accused Conor Grogan, who described how the sons in the family get together at a local pub.
“Once a month we go to Ahern’s pub,” he said.
“The Friday Club” gathered the night before Mrs Casey was killed.
To Mr Grogan’s recollection, his sons David, Peter, the accused, Conor, and two grandsons accompanied him to the pub.
“Timmy Rattigan came with Conor,” he said.
Mr Grogan’s son, Peter, told the court it would not be unusual for friends to join the family gathering.
Peter said that when he left the gathering at 11pm, the two accused were still in the pub with a few others.
Mr Gerard Casey, the dead woman’s son, told the court he had moved out of the family home in November 2003. He had last seen his mother the two days before her death.
“Did you ever stay there on any occasion since?” prosecuting counsel, Mr Edward Comyn SC asked.
“Yes, every other weekend,” he replied.
In his opening statement to the jury, Mr Comyn had said that Mrs Casey’s killing could have been a case of mistaken identity. The target “could have perhaps been her son, Gerard”.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Carney.
