Taxi driver murder trial opens

A man told the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork today how he found the body of his brother covered in blood in the bathroom of his bedsit after he became concerned when he failed to make contact with him.

Dermot Healy said found the body of his brother, Michael (62) in the bathroom of his bedsit at Flat G, No 3 Rocksprings Terrace, St Lukes in Cork on September 22nd 2010.

"I opened the door. I saw Michael, my brother, dead on the floor - there was blood all around him, there was blood on his face," said Mr Healy in a statement to gardaí.

He had gone to his brother's bedsit after failing to make contact with him despite repeated calls to his mobile phone and he was concerned about him as his brother was a diabetic.

Mr Healy's statement was read into evidence on the opening day of the trial of Lloyd Buckley before a jury of seven men and five women at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.

Mr Buckley (39) of Flat F, No 3 Rocksprings Terrace, St Lukes denies murdering Michael Healy at Flat G in the same building at Rocksprings Tce between September 18th and September 22nd 2010.

Prosecution counsel Tim O' Leary SC told the jury that Mr Buckley denied the murder charge but had pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter but this was rejected by the DPP.

Outlining the state's case, Mr O'Leary said the jury would hear evidence from State Pathologist, Prof Marie Cassidy that Mr Healy died as a result of blunt force to the head.

Prof Cassidy would give evidence that Mr Healy suffered perhaps six blows to the head which caused fractures to the skull and led to internal bleeding in the brain.

Garda Alan Crowley told the court that he found blood in the bathroom where Mr Healy was found but he also found blood on bedclothes on the bed in the living area of the bedsit.

A separated father of two, Mr Healy who worked as a taxi driver, had lived alone in the top floor bedsit at Rocksprings Tce for around ten years. The case continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Paul Carney.