Brother lifts head from hands to glare at accused as blows are described

One week into the murder trial of Joe O'Reilly, public and media interest show no sign of waning. Queues were already in place at 10am outside courtroom No 2, and there were heated exchanges, exacerbated by the closure of the balcony viewing area on Friday, ostensibly for health and safety reasons.

Thanks to the trial judge, we now know that it was closed because the door leading off the balcony connects to the jury room and that "noise can be heard inside the jury room and people on the balcony can hear noises from the jury room".

A situation demanding a sound-proofed door, you might think. The judge's pragmatic solution is to allow use of the balcony only when the jury is in the courtroom.

Those who managed to make it into the packed court yesterday saw another painful day's evidence unfold for the relatives of Rachel O'Reilly.

There was evidence of Rachel's blood on her husband's right black boot. There was no way of telling how long it had been there. Several of the 17 witnesses were there to attest to the handing over of CCTV footage to the Garda, from a premises in Bluebell, a landfill facility at The Naul and a filling station near Broadstone bus station. Others testified about certain mobile phone numbers in use at the time by Joe O'Reilly and his friend and work colleague Derek Quaerney.

Joe O'Reilly rubbed a finger across his chin as Prof Marie Cassidy spent 45 minutes documenting the prolonged assault and drawn-out death of his athletic, healthy, young wife, a woman 5ft 11in tall, of "heavy build, [ with] moderately long blonde hair, partly tied back, nails long, manicured, unbroken".

He brushed an eye as the State Pathologist described how between four and nine separate blows were inflicted while she was "upright", followed by "forceful and heavy blows from a weapon, most likely when she was lying on the ground".

Rachel's brother, Anthony Callaly, lifted his head from his hands to glare at the accused as Prof Cassidy described injuries probably caused during Rachel's efforts to defend herself: the bruises to her wrist, the injury to her mouth, the neck bruising probably caused by being caught in an armlock. They also heard she "could have lain unconscious for a few hours" before dying.

Along the bench reserved for the Callaly family, their aunt, Susan Woods, put her arm around Rachel's weeping sister, Ann, while her brother, Declan, lowered his head and closed his eyes. Anthony, another brother, left with a female friend.

Earlier, they had heard evidence from Kieran Gallagher, a confidant of Joe O'Reilly. A couple of months before the murder, the accused had told him that he and Rachel had marital problems and were having counselling - "something to do with Rachel being snappy with the children. Social welfare [ sic] were called. I don't know to what extent." And no, Mr Gallagher did not know who had reported Rachel to the social services.

Further family distress was evident during testimony from handwriting and document analyst Det Insp Michael Moore. It was his job to decipher the letters and cards - which were "badly soiled and needing careful handling" - retrieved from Rachel's coffin. The prosecution asked that Joe O'Reilly's five-page, "heavily-soiled" letter on lined paper to his wife be produced in court. "There's a difficulty," said the exhibits officer after a pause. "It's a bio-hazard. The court would have to be cleared."

The prosecution swiftly decided to make do with the photographs, and the letter, signed "Your hubby wubby Joefus", was again read to the court. Family members glared at the accused and rolled their eyes.

His letter was one of many in the coffin, along with birthday cards from relatives and friends, a Little Book of Zodiac Wisdom - Libra, a Treasury of Quotations and a pack of Silk Cut cigarettes.

The court will sit without the jury until Friday, to allow for "a substantial legal issue that will take a number of days to resolve", the judge said.