Fingerprint on bag matched accused, court told
A fingerprint on a plastic bag found near where a 22-year-old woman was found dead in Co Cork in 2000 matched those of the accused, a murder trial jury heard today.
Det Gda Aidan Daly of the fingerprint section of the Garda Technical Bureau was giving evidence at the ninth day of the trial of an 18-year-old Cork man, who cannot be named for legal reasons.
The man has pleaded not guilty to the murder and rape of Ms Rachel Kiely (aged 22) at the Regional Park, Ballincollig, Co Cork on October 26, 2000.
Det Gda Daly gave evidence that he carried out an examination of a plastic bag and an unopened one-and-a-half litre bottle of coke found inside the bag not far from where the body lay.
He explained that on November 10, 2000 at Gurranabraher garda station, the accused consented to give him a set of fingerprints for comparison purposes.
"One fingerprint developed on the bag and I can conclude it was made by the left thumb of (the accused)," Det Gda Daly told Mr Patrick J McCarthy SC for the prosecution.
"By chance handling of the bag a portion of his fingerprint was left on the bag," he said. A number of other prints found on the bottle and bag could not be conclusively identified.
Det Sgt John O'Neill, scenes of crimes manager said the area of the ruin was not an "ideal scene to see signs of a struggle".
"Rachel Kiely had probably entered the ruin and exited dead or alive, we don't know. Did she walk from the ruin, did she crawl, was she carried, we don't know," he said.
The court also heard evidence about the gathering of trace evidence from the victim's body at the scene and during the post-mortem.
Det Insp Brendan McArdle of the Ballistics Section told Mr Blaise O'Carroll SC defending, that contamination of the victim's clothing with material from the accused was not possible.
He gave evidence that swabs taken from the victim as well as clothing and other items were delivered by him from the scene directly to the Forensic Science Laboratory in Dublin "at the first available opportunity".
"At no stage did I have dealings with the accused in this instance," he said.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury.
