The trial of a Louth man charged with the murder of a young German woman in 2001 concluded at the Central Criminal court this evening with closing speeches heard from both prosecution and defence counsels.
Prosecuting counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC told the jury that they heard in this case "overwhelming evidence" against the accused, Mr Michael Murphy.
Mr Murphy (42), of Drogheda, Co Louth, is pleading not guilty to the murder of Ms Bettina Poeschel (28) at Donore, Co Meath, on a date on or between 25 September and 17 October 2001. Ms Poeschel disappeared on 25 September as she walked alone towards Newgrange interpretative centre the day before she was due to return home to Munich, Germany. She had been on a six-day trip to
visit an old school-friend working in Dublin at the time.
In his closing submission Mr Vaughan Buckley put it to the jury that a comment from Mr Murphy on the day of his arrest on 27 October 2001, amounted to "an admission that the accused took the life of Bettina Poeschel".
Mr Murphy is reported to have said to detectives: "just tell that girls' parents I'm sorry for taking her life and for what I did to her. I'm so, so sorry".
When detectives asked him how he killed Ms Poeschel, the accused reportedly replied: "I don't want to say anything else, I'm just so sorry about it".
"You can infer guilt from that" Mr Vaughan Buckley said.
He told the jury that the discovery of Ms Poeschel's shoes, trousers and socks hidden in a skip "corroborates what the Inspector alleges the accused said".
Inspector Gerry O'Brien told the court last week that Mr Murphy confessed to returning to the body "two or three days later" to remove Ms Poeschel's shoes and trousers and told him he hid them in a nearby skip.
"If these words were not said, how would the property of Bettina Poeschel be found in the skip?" Mr Vaughan Buckley said to the jury.
"I would submit there's more than ample evidence…that you can safely come to the conclusion that the accused murdered Bettina Poeschel" he concluded.
The jury was then urged to be "on guard" and "open-minded" with the evidence by Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending Mr Murphy.
He reminded the jury that the cause of death was never ascertained by former State pathologist Prof.
John Harbison and that no evidence of asphyxia was found.
He said alleged sightings of Mr Murphy's car in Donore the night Ms Poeschel disappeared were "notoriously unreliable" and said the person seen running up the road "could have been anyone".
Mr MacEntee told the jury that they would have to decide what reliance they could put on Mr Murphy's alleged confession to Gardai on the day of his arrest. "What is he sorry about? Some sort of inappropriate move? Does it prove that he killed her?" asked Mr MacEntee. "You're expected to construe "I'm sorry" as guilt" he added.
He said that semen found on Ms Poeschel's body "proves perhaps that Michael Murphy had sexual intercourse with Fraulein Poeschel…does it prove that he killed her?" He told the jury that DNA evidence linking the accused with Ms Poeschel gave a "statistical probability, that's all" and said that DNA evidence "never goes beyond a statistical probability".
"Michael Murphy could get a very shoddy and very unjust trial" he warned. "I think you'll find most of the evidence in this case is fantasy, isn't safe and based on a variety of fallacies" said Mr MacEntee.
The jury will be addressed