Man, 59, suffered 'gruesome death' after allegedly being thrown into rubbish chute at Cork flats
A 59-year-old man suffered a gruesome death in the rubbish chute of an apartment building it was alleged yesterday in the case against a man who denies murder.
It was also alleged that the accused said to another man that the deceased was “down the drain".
Ms Justice Tara Burns and a jury of seven women and five men sworn in to hear the case heard the opening address by the prosecution at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.
David O’Loughlin, 31, with an address at Garden City Apartments, North Main Street, Cork, pleaded not guilty to the charge of murdering Liam Manley, 59, at that address on May 12, 2013.
Prosecution senior counsel, Patrick McGrath, gave the jury an outline of the evidence which he anticipated would be called by the prosecution: “The deceased was a man who had worked a fair bit in his life but he had fallen on hard times.
"He developed a drink problem. At the time of his death he was effectively an alcoholic... and was dependent on the assistance of Simon."
The accused man was 26 at the time and lived in apartment 10 on the top floor of the apartment building which also houses the North Gate cinema complex.
The deceased and the accused were not known to each other and they met after 4am that Sunday morning in Cork city and went back to O’Loughlin’s apartment, Mr McGrath SC said.
An acquaintance of O’Loughlin, David O’Mahony, arrived at the apartment at about 6am. Mr O’Mahony would later describe the deceased as an older, quiet man.
In his outline of the anticipated evidence, Mr McGrath alleged: “Verbal abuse began being directed at the deceased by the accused and this quickly developed into physical assault, the accused punching the deceased in the face.
"He (David O’Mahony) asked Mr O’Loughlin to desist and he was told to shut up and sit down. This ended with the deceased being dragged out of the apartment by the accused.
"Mr Manley met what could only be described as a gruesome death."
“What Mr O’Mahony heard just after the accused dragged him out of the apartment – to the right there is a steel opening, a door and through that leads to a rubbish chute – he heard the shutting of the steel door.
"This leads to the rubbish chute. It is a steel cylindrical chute from the top to the bottom of the building. It goes into a large rubbish bin, in to which the rubbish is supposed to land. It is used by the various apartments.
Mr O’Loughlin returned after the steel door closed. On returning he said the man was down the drain. Mr O’Mahony at this stage did not believe him.
Two young women visited the apartment at around 8.15am and “Mr O’Loughlin is alleged to have said he had put someone in the chute. This was met with disbelief. One of the ladies thought he was 'talking crap', to use the phrase she used,” the prosecution senior counsel said.
Mr McGrath said a maintenance man responded to a complaint of the chute being blocked and used rods to try to free it on the following day, Monday.
“He noticed a copious amount of red liquid which he thought was some kind of sauce. It dawned on him relatively quickly it was blood,” Mr McGrath said.
The maintenance man was shocked to discover the chute contained the remains of the deceased.
“Cause of death was mechanical asphyxia associated with being caught in the waste chute,” the prosecution senior counsel said.
What the jury was told yesterday is not evidence, Mr McGrath said.
Witnesses are due to commence giving evidence today.
