Graham Dwyer trial: Knives in basement of architect’s office

Gardaí found two knives in the offices where murder-accused Graham Dwyer worked, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has been told.

Detective Garda Peter Woods said he found the knives after being supplied with a map of the basement of A & D Wejchert by the solicitor for Mr Dwyer, Jonathan Dunphy, on February 17th, 2014.

The Buck Special knife, with a black handle, was in a leather scabbard. It and a black-handled flick knife were contained in a magazine box on a shelf in a filing area.

Mr Dwyer (42), a south Dublin architect from Kerrymount Close in Foxrock, is charged with murdering childcare worker Elaine O’Hara (36) in Co Dublin on August 22nd, 2012. He has pleaded not guilty.

Ms O’Hara’s remains were found in forestry on Kilakee Mountain, Rathfarnham, on September 13th, 2013.

Det Garda Woods said the Buck Special knife was in very good condition and was clean and the scabbard contained “small scratches”.

Remy Farrell SC, for Mr Dwyer, said his client had sent the map to gardaí after it became apparent from the book of evidence, served in January 2014, that gardaí were attaching considerable significance to the order of a Buck Special knife on the internet.

Det Woods said gardaí believed the delivery of the knife on August 21st, 2012 was “hugely significant”.

Mr Farrell asked if the fact that there was no sign of it was deemed “hugely significant”. Det Woods agreed.

In earlier evidence, the court was told a spade found in the back garden of the home of Mr Dwyer was similar to one found by gardaí at Kilakee Mountain.

Garda Chris Boylan, who took part in a search at Kilakee Mountain in Rathfarnham on September 20th and 21st, 2013, said he found a “shovel” in a ditch at a wooded area.

Mr Farrell showed Garda Boylan the “shovel” he found and told him it was in fact a spade because it had a rectangular blade and a shovel had a triangular blade.

He showed the officer a photograph of a spade in the back garden of Mr Dwyer’s and pointed out its features.

He said the two were “virtually identical”.

“It looks quite similar,” Garda Boylan responded.

Joe Mason, of Petra Management Ltd, the company that managed Belarmine Plaza, Stepaside, where Ms O'Hara lived, told the court CCTV was installed on the premises in January, 2012. He said there were no records of any faults in the CCTV up to the end of August 2012.

Also giving evidence, Christof Hylinski, a partner at Hydarulic Tattoos, South King Street, Dublin, said his company sent an email about a tattoo on April 28th, 2011, to irl3543@gmail.com.

The email said it would be no problem “to get a tattoo like this” and there was “a separate area for tattoos like this one”.

Asked by Seán Guerin SC, what he meant by jobs “like this one”, Mr Hylinski said he meant “to make it more private”.

Asked why it would need to be private, he said “when it is a job on a private area of the body”.

Mr Guerin showed a membership card for Roundwood model aeronautical club to the jury and asked Mr Hylinski to confirm the number on the card was the same as the number contained in the email address.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt intervened to say that wasn’t Mr Hylinski’s role.

The trial continues.