Dog DNA at murder accused's home matched dog from stolen vehicle
A scientist matched dog hairs taken from a car seat cover found at a murder accused's home to a bulldog belonging to a man whose car was stolen five months before the murder, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Dr Rebecca Weld today told prosecution counsel Paul Burns SC that she has a PhD in animal identification and in 2016 was a director with Weatherbys DNA laboratories.
On July 26, 2016, she examined DNA samples from a black cocker-spaniel named Lily and an English bulldog named Bailey. She compared them with black and white hairs taken from a cover or sheet of tarpaulin that gardaí have said was recovered from a bin in the garden of Paul O'Beirne, one of the two men accused of murdering 25-year-old Vincent Ryan.
Dr Weld said a partial DNA profile was generated from one of the white hairs found on the cover that matched the DNA profile from the English bulldog. She said the chance of finding the same profile from a dog other than Bailey would be one in one billion.
Last Friday Joseph Cogan told Mr Burns that his car, a silver Volkswagen Golf GTI, was stolen from outside his home on October 13/14 2015. In his opening to the jury Mr Burns said it is part of the prosecution case that the shots that killed Mr Ryan were fired from a silver Volkswagen Golf.
Mr Cogan told Mr Burns that in the boot of his car was a grey canvas sheet that he used to protect his car from dog hairs. He said he owns a fawn or blonde bulldog and a black cocker spaniel and the canvas "would have been covered in hairs".
Mr Cogan was shown the canvas that gardaí have said they took from the bin at Mr O'Beirne's home. He said it looked "very similar" to the one that was in his car.
He also confirmed that on April 14, 2016, he gave gardaí permission to take a buccal swab, used in DNA testing, and hair samples from both his dogs.
Sgt Niall Phelan told Mr Burns that he took possession of two wheelie bins that had been seized from Mr O'Beirne's address on March 20, 2016. He said he opened the green bin and took out the grey tarpaulin cover.
Dr Hilary Clarke of Forensic Science Ireland told Mr Burns she took what she believed to be black and white dog hairs from the cover on April 28, 2016, and placed them in tamper-free evidence bags.
Paul O’Beirne (aged 36) of Colepark Drive, Ballyfermot and Jeffrey Morrow (aged 37) of Burnell Court, Coolock have pleaded not guilty to murdering 25-year-old Vincent Ryan at McKee Road in Finglas on February 29, 2016.
Sergeant Patrick Traynor told Mr Paul Burns that on March 15, 2016, he and other gardaí went to Mr O'Beirne's home at Colepark Drive, Ballyfermot.
Gardaí had a search warrant and were let in by a woman living at the address. Sgt Traynor said he searched the back garden and found burnt remains in a barbecue that included a partially burnt mobile phone.
Inspector Gavin Ross told Mr Burns that Mr O'Beirne was in the house asleep when gardaí executed the warrant at about 7.03am. He said he took a Samsung mobile phone from Mr O'Beirne and another Samsung belonging to the female living at the address.
He also noticed there was a CCTV camera installed at the front door hooked up to a hard drive. He seized the system and when gardaí looked at it at a garda station, Inspector Ross said it appeared to have been tampered with.
He said: "The memory had been removed. The hard drive had been physically removed."
Inspector Ross said he later obtained a search warrant from Blanchardstown District Court to search a house in Riverside, Kinnegad, Co Westmeath.
There was a Nissan van in the driveway when gardaí arrived on March 18, 2016. Inside the van, Inspector Ross said, was a CCTV hard drive.
Detective Garda Alan Mahony said he examined the hard drive and found it was password protected. He was able to bypass the system and get access to footage saved on the hard drive.
He said he downloaded footage from February 29, 2016, from 11.30am to 6.30pm.
The trial continues in front of Justice Michael White and a jury of eight men and four women.
