Video evidence in Ballincollig murder trial
Video evidence of the scene where a 22-year-old woman’s body was discovered in Co Cork in 2000 was shown to a jury at the Central Criminal Court today.
The footage showed a dense and overgrown area of the Regional Park, Ballincollig, Co Cork where the body of Ms Rachel Kiely was discovered after she went missing when out walking her dogs.
An 18 year-old Cork man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies the murder and rape of Ms Kiely in the park on October 26, 2000.
Garda Derek Union of the Garda Technical Bureau gave evidence that he filmed the area surrounding an old ruined house in the park where the baseball cap of the deceased was first discovered.
The jury saw the overgrown site 20 yards from the old ruins where the young woman’s body was located.
The State Pathologist John Harbison also gave evidence that he travelled to the scene to carry out an examination of the body the day after the incident.
He observed that the body was lying in a "coiled-up position" in a very overgrown thicket.
"She appeared to have fled into this deep undergrowth… and she couldn’t go much further," he said.
Dr Harbison told the court that on his initial examination he noticed an area of swelling and bruising on the left side of the victim’s neck.
"From the tightening of the neck, this would indicate the deceased did have difficulty breathing - possibly due to strangulation," he said.
There was also bruising to her knees and right thigh.
"This suggest force was exerted on the inside of both knees to force them apart," he said.
During a post-mortem examination at Cork University Hospital, Prof Harbison said he took a number of swabs from the body for DNA examination.
Dr Harbison will be continuing his evidence before Mr Justice Paul Butler and a jury this afternoon.
