Graham Dwyer trial: Graphic material found on hard drive

An image Elaine O'Hara had used for her profile on a fetish website was found on an external hard drive owned by Graham Dwyer, the Central Criminal Court has heard.

Det Garda Bríd Wallace told the court she found the image when she examined a Seagate external hard drive, recovered from Mr Dwyer’s home.

The image showed a naked female faced away from the camera, with a mask over her head and her arms behind her back, and with handcuffs connected by a chain to cuffs at her ankles.

Det Garda Wallace confirmed data attached to the image showed it was taken on November 4th, 2008 with a HTC Touch Diamond camera phone.

Sean Guerin SC, for the prosecution, said the image was the same as one contained on Ms O’Hara’s Mac computer and associated with Ms O’Hara’s profile, helpmelearn, on BDSM website Alt.com. Det Garda Wallace agreed.

There was also an image, entitled Image 92, taken with the same camera on September 30th, 2008, of a torso with a healed scar visible, the court was told. And another image, Image 93, which showed a torso with bruising and wound marks, was also taken with the same camera on the same date.

Mr Dwyer (42), an architect from Kerrymount Close in Foxrock, is charged with murdering childcare worker Elaine O’Hara (36) 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.

Mr Justice Tony Hunt cleared the court of the public in advance of Det Garda Wallace's evidence.

The detective agreed with Mr Guerin that she found a document, entitled Jenny’s First Rape, on the hard drive. Mr Guerin said it was dated May 31st, 2005, was 1,579 words long.

“It was last modified on the same date, by whom?” Mr Guerin asked.

“It’s recorded as Graham Dwyer,” Ms Wallace responded.

Mr Guerin read the entire document into the court record.

It began by describing travelling to Newcastle for the first time some sights, including the Angel of the North, as well as some contemporary shopping centres and architectural developments to get ideas for projects. He also wanted to “feed his lust”. He described how he looked like an ordinary person.

“No one would suspect what was on in my mind - rape,” Mr Guerin read from the story.

He said he had packed an overnight bag including chloroform, rope and a hunting knife.

He found a book shop several floors high and believed it would be a good place to find “some timid flower” who wouldn’t fight.

He found a woman on the top floor in the erotic fiction section who was reading a book by the Marquis de Sade, the author said.

“I knew this girl was going to be my next victim,” he said.

He put a hand over her mouth and a knife to her throat and took her to his hotel room, using chloroform on her when he thought she might run. The author said he put her on the bed, undressed her and tied a rope around her neck and arms so that if she struggled, she would strangle herself. When she woke up, he put a pillow over her head to muffle her cries, the author said. He said it was a great feeling being in his room “knife in my hand”.

Afterwards, the author said the woman’s face was contorted with pain, fear and rage.

“I smiled, ‘how was it for you, baby?’ ha ha ha.”

Another document found on the hard drive was created on May 28th, 2005, Mr Guerin said. It recounted a rape at knife-point in the bushes of “St Stephen’s Park”.

Det Garda Wallace told the court data showed this document was last saved by “J” and written elsewhere.

Det Garda Wallace also said she believed a digitally-altered photograph of a blonde woman found on the hard drive was of Darci Day, a young woman who gave evidence in the trial earlier this week.

She agreed she was aware Ms Day had given evidence about a photoshopped image of herself. She explained when an image is photoshopped, “layers” can be laid down on top of it.

She said the image showed a blonde female who appeared to be Ms Day lying on her back, wearing a black jacket, but otherwise naked. She said there were seven layers on top of the image. These included one which added a neck slit, another adding blood, another with cuts around the breast and upper torso, another layer added intestines and another included a brand mark above the right breast.

There were other layers on the system, Det Garda Wallace said, but they were not added to the final photo.

Other documents included one called Story.txt, this was an account of the bondage and imprisonment of a female and involved stabbing and rape. It was last written in on May 1st, 2009. There was also a document called “timetable” which outlined a schedule. Its author was “Elaine O’Hara”.

A movie file featuring a woman, bound with ropes and audibly crying as she was raped, was also found on the hard drive.

In another folder, there were images of a named blonde woman, not Ms O’Hara, the court was told. These included one of a “naked chest area” with a large knife pressed against the right nipple. Another photo showed the same woman with a belt used as a gag and double twisted around her neck.

There were also images of a left breast with a cut underneath it and blood dripping from it and a knife pressed against it. Another image showed the cut from another angle, with a knife held in the left hand and a third showed the left hand actually cutting under the area of the breast.

There were also videos entitled attempted breast slash, blood2 and bloodletting, the court was told.

Mr Guerin said there were four other videos with explicit titles referring to violent sexual activities. Another video was called Architect72 raping and others had names including first stabbing, second stabbing and fake stabbing. There were also images of a man holding a knife at a woman’s throat, and a video 18 seconds long showing a woman on a bed and a left hand holding a knife.

Mr Guerin said there were also 21 images in another folder that appeared to be a series taken during this particular sexual encounter. Some of the furnishings visible were also visible in another movie file with a name referencing violence.

Det Garda Wallace agreed there was also a lot of personal content on the external hard drive, including images and movie files of family occasions, birthdays, weddings and holidays. Some files related to Mr Dwyer’s architectural work, to model aircraft and to his Porsche.

One of the files related to work he was doing at Letterkenny hospital, and another was a final thesis for a course in UCD.

There were also photos of his children, including pregnancy scans.

The trial will continue on Monday.