A 42-year-old Co Louth man has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to the murder of a German tourist two years ago.
The accused, who cannot be named for legal reasons, denies a charge of murder and a second charge, of a 28-year-old German woman at Dunore, Co Meath on an unknown date between September 25th and October 17th, 2001.
The victim, Bettina Poeschel, was found dead in a patch of dense undergrowth some three weeks after she was reported missing on September 26th. She arrived in Ireland from Germany five days previously and had stayed with a German friend of hers.
On the day of her disappearance, she had taken a train alone up to Drogheda to visit Newgrange. The alarm was raised the following morning by her friend who noticed she had not returned to Dublin in time for her flight home to Germany.
An extensive Garda search operation was mounted, finally locating her body which was found lying face down and naked from the waist down in dense undergrowth near Dunore, Co Meath.
The accused man was arrested on October 27th, 2001 under Section Four of the Criminal Justice Act on suspicion of the murder.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Mr Dennis Buckley SC told the court the victim was captured on CCTV in Drogheda town as she walked up from the train station towards Newgrange around 9.20 a.m. on September 25th. She was last seen alive walking on the road between Dunore and Drogheda at 11.05 a.m. that morning.
"It's the prosecution's case that she never got to Newgrange" said Mr Buckley. "None of the staff at Newgrange recognized her face when shown photos of her" he said. "Her clothes, bag and plane ticket were still there at her friends flat who raised the alarm."
The jury of eight men and four women will continue hearing evidence before Mr Justice Diarmuid O'Donovan tomorrow.