A man charged with the murder of his partner told a paramedic who arrived to treat the woman that he loved her and was planning to propose, a trial has heard.
Adam Corcoran (31) denies murdering Daena Walsh at their home in John Barry House, Midleton, Co Cork on August 2nd, 2024.
Corcoran, from Ballincollig, also pleaded not guilty to a charge of arson on the same date at the same location.
The Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork heard Walsh (27), a mother of two, was found with 11 stab wounds, including one to her chest which was 11.5cm deep. She also had 14 incised wounds.
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The court heard from paramedics who had attended the scene, who said they had to withdraw from the burning apartment to allow fire officers to make the scene safe.
Alan Fitzgerald told the court he and colleagues from the National Ambulance Service had rushed to Midleton after the alarm was raised about a woman needing medical assistance.
He described the scene in the apartment as “gruesome” and said Walsh had “absolutely catastrophic injuries”. He said Walsh was not breathing and “it was not possible for her to have a pulse”.
Fitzgerald told the jury there was an “obvious smell of smoke” in the apartment at the time. He said an aerosol can, which was on top of the cooker in the kitchen, had exploded. He said the fatal Creeslough explosion in Co Donegal had been prominent in media reports, and he feared the cooker in the apartment was a gas model that could possibly explode.
The paramedics withdrew to allow members of the fire brigade to deal with the situation. At that point, the witness said, they knew they could not help Walsh to survive.
Fitzgerald said Corcoran was talking to a garda on the street when he went outside. He believed Corcoran was “under the influence of alcohol or drugs to a considerable extent”. He said Corcoran was asked to sit in the ambulance to allow for a medical assessment.
“He [Corcoran] said he loved her. He said she [Walsh] had self harmed multiple times. He said he was going to propose to her.”
The jury also heard the 999 call which was placed at 4.06pm on August 2nd, 2024 by a man who identified himself as Adam Corcoran. He said his partner Daena Walsh was “after stabbing herself in the stomach”.
The operator asked whether the woman was alive. The caller said he did not know, but “she could be dead”.
Oswin Pinto, who lived across the hall from Walsh and Corcoran’s apartment, told the court he returned home from work at about 4pm that day after receiving a call about an alarm. He said he spotted Corcoran on the street talking on his phone and that he seemed “messed up”.
Pinto spoke to another neighbour and decided to bring a fire extinguisher to Walsh’s apartment, as he felt the fire might have broken out there. He said the door was “wide open”, so he walked in and saw Corcoran crying and a lot of blood on the floor.
“He [Corcoran] was talking on the phone. He was on the floor, kneeling. She [Walsh] was lying beside him. She looked dead. There was a stab wound to her chest and her throat was slit.”
Pinto said Corcoran asked him whether he thought Walsh was dead. He said he told the accused that he did not know.
The trial continues.
