A man accused of murdering his partner in Co Cork told gardaí he did not kill the woman; she was his soul mate and their relationship had never been better.
Adam Corcoran (31) has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Daena Walsh (27) at their apartment in John Barry House, Connolly Street, Midleton, on August 2nd, 2024. He also denies causing criminal damage by arson to the apartment on the same date.
On Friday at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork, defence counsel Brendan Grehan put it to senior investigating officer Det John O’Connell that the accused denied killing Walsh when he was interviewed following his arrest on suspicion of murder.
O’Connell agreed and he also confirmed to Grehan that his client told gardaí “he loved” Walsh, “they were closer than ever” and that “she was his soul mate, she was his best friend”.
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The detective also agreed when counsel put it to him that Corcoran said during interview that he planned to get engaged to and marry Walsh and buy a house for them and their two children, but this had not happened as they relapsed into drink and drug abuse.
Grehan said Corcoran told gardaí: “I don’t know, it’s like replaying a nightmare. I don’t know how I am in a [Garda] station. I don’t understand why she would do it. How will I tell the two kids? It’s the worst day of my life.”
O’Connell agreed that the accused had said all those things.
Det Garda Cormac Ó Bric testified that when he arrested Corcoran on Connolly Street near the scene at 5.26pm on August 2nd, 2024, the murder suspect was intoxicated, but he could not say what had caused the intoxication.
Earlier, Dr James Cafferkey, of Forensic Science Ireland, said he examined items of clothing that Corcoran was wearing when he was arrested and two bloodstained knives recovered by gardaí at the scene.
The DNA expert said blood samples he examined on a jacket, a pair of jeans and a left runner worn by Corcoran were 1,000 million times more likely to match a DNA sample taken at postmortem from Walsh than to originate from an unknown, unrelated person.
He also said blood samples he examined on a blue-handled knife and a red-handled serrated knife found at the scene were 1,000 million times more likely to match a DNA sample taken from Walsh than to originate from an unknown, unrelated person.
Det Garda Andy Gibbon, of the Garda Technical Bureau, told the jury he examined the murder scene on August 3rd and found a knife with a red serrated blade and a red-and-grey handle in a plastic bag from the 21 Off-Licence in the apartment’s kitchen.
His colleague, Det Garda Treasa Kelly, said she examined a bedroom on the same day and found a knife with a blue blade and blue-and-grey handle with possible blood stains in a beige handbag.
Gibbon said he also found a bloodstained and wet blue shirt, a bloodstained white ankle sock and an unexploded L’Oreal Hairspray aerosol in the 21 Off-Licence bag. He also found a bloodstained dishcloth in the kitchen bin.
He said he found an exploded Lynx aerosol can on a yellow chair close to Walsh’s legs and a bloodstained black towel on the floor where Walsh had been lying once her body was removed. He also found 12 empty Carlsberg bottles and an empty Bulmers bottle in the apartment.
Det Garda Jeannette O’Neill, also of the Garda Technical Bureau, said she concluded from her examination that the fire which damaged the apartment and Walsh’s body was started in the cooker area of the kitchen.
“The seat of the fire was around the cooker. There was a V-shaped pattern on the wall. Some of the tiles had come away from the wall. The four rings of the cooker had been turned on and the dials on the cooker had melted,” she said.
The case continues.
