A schoolgirl was still alive when she suffered severe brain injuries after being hit with a stone by an 18-year-old youth she had been going out with, a jury was told yesterday. The girl and the youth, who admits killing her, had had sex when he picked up a stone and began striking her when they had an argument shortly after 9 p.m. on Hallowe'en night five years ago, the court was told.
She was lying down in a grassy area in the grounds of a convent and died where she lay. The youth admits that when he walked away she was still alive.
Yesterday the prosecution case closed in the trial of Mr Keith Kelly (22), of Colepark Drive, Ballyfermot, who has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Ms Melanie Gleeson (15), of Colepark Road, Ballyfermot, Dublin, in the grounds of the Dominican Convent, Lynch's Lane, Ballyfermot, on October 31st, 1995. He admits the killing but is claiming a defence of provocation.
Mr Kelly, who was 18 at the time, was working on a FAS course while living with his parents. Melanie Gleeson was living with her mother and attending a local school.
The jury in the Central Criminal Court heard that the following morning, November 1st, 1995, Mr Kelly alerted workmen to the site where the girl's naked body lay.
After initially claiming no involvement in the killing, he later told gardai he had hit her with an open can of cider and squeezed her neck for about a minute. But he went on to admit to investigating gardai that he also hit her with a stone.
In a third and final statement, he said: "I got the stone from beside her and I hit her three times at the tops, across the side of the face and across the head. This all started after we finished intercourse. I asked her did she have sex with X and she said she did. I heard a rumour that she was doing it behind my back with him and I heard she was pregnant."
The results of a post-mortem by the Chief State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, showed that Ms Gleeson died from lacerations of the brain, multiple fractures of the skull and multiple head injuries.
The pathologist's report, which is uncontested by the defence, was read to the jury yesterday. It confirmed Ms Gleeson was not pregnant at the time of her death. His findings also supported an allegation of attempted strangulation.
Det Sgt Brendan McArdle told the trial there was no indication that Ms Gleeson's clothing had been violently removed. Mr Kelly's counsel, Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, has told the jury that it is the "immediate circumstances" of the incident that they must examine in the evidence.
He said the case Keith Kelly would make was that "because of the nature of his relationship with Melanie, the amount of drink that he had taken, certain bitter things that were said, and certain things that Melanie did and said to him, that he did in fact lose control and without meaning to, picked up a stone and hit her very heavily with it on the head".
The trial continues today.