A woman died from severe blunt force trauma to the head, suffering multiple fractures to her skull, including one possibly caused by a “stomping or kicking type of impact”, a pathologist has told the Central Criminal Court.
Luke Donnelly (29), of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his mother Catherine Henry (62) at her apartment on Bridge Street in Dundalk, Co Louth, between May 23rd and 24th, 2023.
The jury heard Mr Donnelly accepts he caused multiple fractures to his mother’s skull and that he left a bloodstained footprint on her back.
State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers on Wednesday told Garret Baker SC, prosecuting, that while conducting a postmortem on Ms Henry she found her hair, hands and face were heavily bloodstained.
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The expert witness said the deceased was wearing brown ‘jegging’ trousers and there was a section on the back of her cardigan, containing a footprint, which had been cut out and retained by the Garda Technical Bureau as evidence.
Dr Okkers said Ms Henry had purple bruising over the face and a full thickness laceration on the left side of the forehead, where a portion of the skull could be observed. There were bruises over the nose and inside the lower lip.
Dr Okkers found bruising on the right side of the head, including the right temple and extending over the back of the head and behind the ear.
She said there was extensive scalp bruising over the frontal area.
Dr Okkers said the layer covering the brain showed extensive haemorrhage. She said a fracture in the left cheek bone and across the base of the skull was depressed and may have been caused by a “stomping or kicking type of impact”, either by the heel of a foot or another object.
Dr Okkers said this type of injury occurs when force is applied on one side of the head and the head is supported on a hard surface. There were also scattered bruises on the back of the head.
At the outset of the trial, Conall MacCarthy SC, defending Mr Donnelly, made admissions on behalf of the accused including that Ms Henry’s death was caused from severe blunt force trauma to the head, which was inflicted by Mr Donnelly.
Mr MacCarthy told the jury the bloodstained footprint on the deceased’s outer garment belonged to Mr Donnelly.
Ms Campbell has told the trial the accused “wasn’t in a right state of mind for a long, long time” and was “saying he was Jesus”.
Mr Donnelly’s sister Kathleen told the jury she was “absolutely terrified” of her mother growing up, as she “physically, verbally and emotionally” abused the witness and her siblings.
The accused’s father Gerry Donnelly, who had once been married to the deceased, said Ms Henry had stabbed him in the arm with a steak knife during an argument around 1999 and that she had also pushed him down the stairs in a separate incident.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven men and five women.
