A woman accused of murdering two men as part of a “team” with her then boyfriend asked about taking a boat out to Lough Sheelin the day before the men were last seen alive, a jury has heard.
The bodies of Anthony Keegan (33) and Eoin O’Connor (32) were recovered more than a month later from Inchicup Island in Lough Sheelin.
Ruth Lawrence (45), with an address at Patrick’s Cottage, Ross, Mountnugent in Co Meath, has pleaded not guilty to the murders of Mr Keegan and Mr O’Connor at an unknown location on a date unknown between April 22nd and May 26th, 2014.
The Central Criminal Court has heard that the men were last known to be alive on the early evening of April 22nd, 2014.
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The landlord of Patrick’s Cottage, in Ross, Mountnugent, Co Meath, where Ms Lawrence was living with her boyfriend Neville van der Westhuizen in 2014, said he picked up rent from her on April 21st, 2014. At this meeting she enquired about going onto Lough Sheelin, which is beside the cottage.
Declan McCabe, who is also a boat builder, said Ms Lawrence “wanted to know where she would get a boat”. She specifically referenced a cabin boat and an engine, which Mr McCabe did not have.
“Maybe she wanted some shelter, but no reason was given,” he added. He said he could get a lend of an electric engine for her.
Mr McCabe said he suggested a boat with oars, but Ms Lawrence told him her boyfriend had a bad back and would not be able for much rowing.
Ms Lawrence and Mr van der Westhuizen picked up the engine two days later, he said. Mr van der Westhuizen got out of the vehicle and gestured, saying: “Oh my back.”
At about noon the next day, Mr McCabe said, the couple returned the engine and Ms Lawrence told him: “We didn’t really go out ... Thanks anyways.”
Mr McCabe agreed the engine’s battery was green, which meant very little battery was used, if any at all.
When he accompanied gardaí to Patrick’s Cottage on April 29th, he saw it had been abandoned and there was no sign of life. The house was untidy and the couple’s three dogs were gone, he told the court.
Michael O’Higgins SC, prosecuting, said in his opening address to the jury on Thursday that the last contact for Mr O’Connor and Mr Keegan’s mobile phones was on the night of April 22nd, 2014. Missing persons investigations began that week as Mr O’Connor’s family became concerned about the two men.
In his opening address, Mr O’Higgins, told the jury the State will argue Ms Lawrence shot Mr O’Connor, a drug dealer, and worked “as a unit” with her boyfriend to kill him and another man. The jury heard their bodies were later found “bound in rope, tape and covered in tarpaulin” on May 26th, 2014.
Mr O’Higgins said the prosecution’s case is that Ms Lawrence and her boyfriend had “spoken openly” about “the murders and disposing of the bodies”.
The trial continues on Tuesday.
