Tourist's killer begins murder appeal
21/04/2005 - 14:00:40A man who murdered a young German tourist and dumped her shoes and trousers in a skip today began his appeal against his conviction.
Michael Murphy, 43, from Drogheda, Co Louth, was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Bettina Poeschel between September 25 and October 17, 2001.
At the Court of Criminal Appeal in Dublin today, lawyers for Murphy said there was no evidence to connect him to the killing of the 28-year-old German woman.
Senior counsel Patrick MacEntee said DNA evidence had shown that Murphy had been involved in some form of sexual activity with Ms Poeschel.
He added that Murphy had also indicated feelings of shame and remorse in his interviews with detectives. “But it doesn’t necessarily follow from that, that he was the person that killed this young lady or that he knew who killed her. Where is the evidence that he actually killed her?”
Ms Poeschel had been on a six-day trip to visit an old school friend working in Dublin at the time.
She disappeared on September 25, 2001, as she walked towards the Newgrange interpreters centre in Co Meath.
Her body was found three weeks later in dense undergrowth.
Mr MacEntee said that when detectives learned of the DNA match between semen found on Ms Poeschel’s body and a hair sample given by Murphy, they had a duty under Common Law to charge him with her murder.
However, he said Murphy was first arrested on October 27, 2001, subjected to Garda interrogation and then charged.
Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns, presiding, suggested that the gardaí had a duty to gather all possible evidence as part of the investigation. “You can’t, as an investigating officer, simply fold up your tent and say that’s it,” he said.
Mr MacEntee said the gardaí had everything they were entitled to have to charge Murphy with murder.
He also raised questions about the failure of the gardaí to make video recordings of their interviews with Murphy.
The court heard that video recording equipment had been present but gardaí were not trained in how to use it. “It doesn’t mean anything. It’s an excuse to the court, which was an insult to the court,” said Mr MacEntee.
When Murphy was interviewed on the day of his arrest, he told detectives: “Just tell that girl’s parents I’m sorry for taking her life and for what I did to her. I’m so, so sorry.”
<-- BACK TO STORY