A 47-year-old man has been found not guilty of murder but guilty of the manslaughter of a mother-of-three who was beaten to death in her Cork home last year.
The jury at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin deliberated for seven hours in the trial of Derek Daly, who is originally from Enfield, Co Meath but with an address at St Vincent’s Hostel, in Cork.
Daly had denied the murder of Catherine Smart (57) at the home they shared at Ballick Court, Midleton, Co Cork on April 4th, 2010.
Ms Smart had been subjected to a violent assault and died from multiple blunt force injuries to the head.
During the course of the trial, the jury heard evidence from a number of witnesses who testified that Daly was in a highly intoxicated state in the hours before and after he claimed to have found Ms Smart’s body.
Daly told gardaí in interviews that he left Ballick Court at 8.40am in the morning of the murder to go to a local shop leaving Ms Smart in good spirits in the living room.
Daly maintained that on his return to the property 20 minutes later he found that a body which he believed to be that of Ms Smart was blocking the door of the living room.
Mr Justice Garett Sheehan thanked the jury for the great attention they gave to the case and exempted them from further jury service for a period of five years.
The judge remanded Daly to appear before him again on July 18th for sentencing.