Knife went straight through victim's heart, says state pathologist

A 42-year-old Cork Prison inmate died from a single stab wound to the front of his chest and haemorrhage's to his heart and aorta, a murder trial has heard.

Knife went straight through victim's heart, says state pathologist

A 42-year-old Cork Prison inmate died from a single stab wound to the front of his chest and haemorrhage's to his heart and aorta, a murder trial has heard.

Brian Veale (aged 31) of Dominic Street, Cork has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to murdering Graham Johnson at Cork Prison, Rathmore Road in Cork City on May 16, 2015.

Today prosecution counsel, Mr Tim O’Leary SC, called chief state pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy to give evidence.

Dr Cassidy told the court that she carried out a postmortem examination on Mr Johnson's body on May 17.

She examined the deceased in the mortuary and observed that his white t-shirt, which had “heavy blood staining” on the front, had been removed.

The witness said Mr Johnson had a large stab wound to "the centre of the front of his chest."

“It was 12 cm's below the top of the breast bone and extending onto the left hand side of his chest. The wound was 6cm’s wide and the wound track was downwards,” she said.

The court heard that the blade had “penetrated the breast bone” and then “sliced across the start of the three ribs and continued around the sack of the heart.”

The blade of the knife had gone straight through the heart from front to back, said Dr Cassidy.

As a result of these injuries the chest cavities were awash with blood, the court heard.

In conclusion, Dr Cassidy told the jury that Mr Johnson’s death was due to a single stab wound to the front of his chest and haemorrhage's to the heart and aorta.

The blade of the knife had “perforated the heart” as well as “slicing” through the walls of the heart and aorta.

“It could have required a considerable degree of force to penetrate the sternum,” she said

Opening the prosecution case to a jury yesterday morning, Mr O'Leary told the court that both the accused and deceased were inmates at Cork Prison and they knew each other.

Counsel told the jury they would hear that the men were working in the kitchen of Cork Prison when there was “some type of verbal altercation” at around 3pm on May 16.

Mr O'Leary said it would be alleged that an altercation arose between the two men “over a switching of a television channel” in the kitchen where the inmates were preparing food.

Counsel told the jury they will also hear that the altercation took place and then finished but sometime after 5pm that same day Mr Veale “came across a part of the kitchen with a knife” and stabbed the deceased in the chest area.

The trial continues before Ms Justice Isobel Kennedy and a jury of seven men and five women. It is expected to last five days.

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