Accused called to neighbour at 1am on day body found

The young man who denies murdering the 59-year-old whose body was found in a rubbish chute woke a neighbour in the early hours of that morning to ask him to tie his tie for him.

Accused called to neighbour at 1am on day body found

The young man who denies murdering the 59-year-old whose body was found in a rubbish chute woke a neighbour in the early hours of that morning to ask him to tie his tie for him.

David O’Loughlin, 31, with an address at Garden City Apartments, North Main Street, Cork, went on trial after pleading not guilty to the charge of murdering Liam Manley, 59, at Garden City Apartments on May 12, 2013, at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

The accused was living at apartment 10 at the relevant time. His neighbour in apartment 11 back in May 2013, Marcin Szczerbinski, who is a lecturer at University College Cork, gave evidence in the murder trial yesterday.

Mr Szczerbinski was asked by defence barrister, Shane O’Callaghan, if the defendant’s demeanour was polite towards him when he called at his apartment after 1am on Saturday night/ Sunday morning of May 11/12 2013, and the lecturer replied: “Yes, then and always.”

Mr O’Callaghan added, “And deferential?”

The witness replied, “Yes, I would say so.”

The lecturer returned from a conference in Thurles on that Saturday night and went to bed and fell sleep.

Patrick McGrath senior counsel for the prosecution said: “Early on Sunday you were woken up, very early in the morning, at around 1 or 2am?”

Mr Szczerbinski said, “It was the doorbell. Someone was ringing at my door. I got up and answered. It was Mr O’Loughlin. He said he was about to meet some friends. He asked me to help him tie his tie, that it was an important occasion and he wanted to look good.”

“And did you help him tie his tie?” Mr McGrath asked.

The witness replied: “I did. He was wearing a white shirt and it was a think black tie. He said he was happy, it was an important occasion. He said he got a job and was very happy and this was the reason for the celebration. He said he would be meeting people. Apart from being happy he had some drink – I certainly could feel that. He thanked me and apologised for waking me up and he left. I went back to bed and fell asleep."

The prosecution senior counsel asked if he heard anything else and he said he heard talking outside the apartment and people walking into the apartment: “I was woken at 6am by some people in the apartment next door arguing. I recall one particular phrase – something like, 'OK come on and hit me' as if inviting another person to hit him. There was a loud bang against the wall and then things went quiet."

Mr Szczerbinski’s impression was that the person who said to hit him was David O’Loughlin but he could not be sure.

“I felt I should call the gardaí. Because it went quiet I did not,” he said. Later in the morning, he heard quiet conversations from the same apartment that were not arguments.

Forensic scientist, John Hoade, told Ms Justice Tara Burns and a jury of seven women and five men that in the defendant’s apartment a blood spatter on the wall adjacent to the sofa matched the DNA profile of the deceased, Liam Manley, as did blood from the back of the couch.

Mr Hoade said blood from the seat of the couch matched David O’Loughlin’s DNA profile.

The forensic scientist said he could not establish the source of blood around the chute door.

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