Murder trial told deceased was 'tied up and beaten'

Pensioner Christy Hanley, who was found dead in his Kilbeggan home last year, was tied up and beaten, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday (Tuesday). Noel Cawley (47), of no fixed abode, but with a previous address in Castleblaney, Co Monaghan, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Christy Hanley (83), at his home on Bridge Street, Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, on May 21 last year. He has also pleaded not guilty to robbing Mr Hanley of an unknown sum of money at the same address on the same date. It is the prosecution"s case that Mr Cawley tied Mr Hanley up, robbed him and beat him to death. Deputy State Pathologist Dr Michael Curtis told the court that Mr Hanley 'seemed to have been beaten about the head and face'. 'This could have been caused by blows, punches and kicks.' He said Mr Hanley bled from his injuries and that this would have caused obstruction to his breathing. Dr Curtis said Mr Hanley could have died from inhaling the blood. 'Somebody who is beaten and may be concussed is... at the risk of inhaling blood into the airways, rendering the person unable to breathe.' Joanne Gaffney told the court that she was employed at Debenham"s clothing store on Henry Street in Dublin in May last year. She said she served a man the day after the alleged murder and he bought a suit, shirt, tie and a pair of shoes. He wore the new clothes and put his old clothes in a Debenham"s bag before he left. Ms Gaffney said the man paid in cash and had a bulk of €50 notes on him. Gda Enda Kenny told the court yesterday that he was working in Tullamore Garda Station the day after the alleged murder. He received a phonecall between 8.55am and 9am. The caller, a male, said that Christy Hanley was tied up in his house in Kilbeggan before hanging up. The court had heard earlier in the trial that gardai had traced this call to a phone box outside Eason"s on Dublin"s Abbey Street. Cawley"s partner, Corinne West, from St Mel"s Terrace in Athlone, told the court last week she had visited Cawley in Dublin on the day after the alleged murder. Ms West said she and Cawley had separated after a relationship and had two children, now aged 17 and 16. She later married, but had since separated. Her children by Cawley had wanted to see their father and he had returned to live with them. Photos were produced from Ms West"s phone, one allegedly taken in Dublin on the day after the murder. She said it may have been on the day after she and relations had left Cawley at the Square in Kilbeggan, but added that she had met Cawley at Heuston Station and he had been wearing a suit. Another witness told the court on Monday that a man who looked 'in a panic to get out of Kilbeggan' asked him for a lift on the evening of the alleged murder. William Slater Jnr told the court that he was working with his father in Kilbeggan on the day of the alleged murder. He said that when they were driving out of Kilbeggan, at approximately 6.20pm, a man jumped out from behind a black people carrier that was parked outside the deceased, Mr Hanley"s, house. Mr Slater said the man ran out in front of him and he had no choice but to stop. He told Mr Slater and his father that his sister had been in an accident out the road and he needed a lift. The man, who was wearing a baseball cap that might have been navy stepped into the van and there was a heavy smell of drink off him, Mr Slater told the court. They dropped the man at a roundabout outside Kilbeggan. Mr Slater said he saw the man run off in the direction of the Dublin Rd. Ian Dwyer, a lorry driver, told the court he was driving through Kilbeggan on the evening of the alleged murder at approximately 6.20pm. He said that as he approached the roundabout outside the town, a man approached, looking for a lift. He dropped the man at Gannon"s Concrete, before Castletown Geoghegan, and the man tried to give him money and pulled out a wad of €50 notes, looking for €20. Greg Quinn, a delivery van driver, told the court that he was driving to Mullingar on the evening of the alleged murder. He said that he encountered a man outside Kilbeggan 'not too far past Gannon"s concrete'. He brought him to Mullingar, where the man threw money towards him. He took it from a bundle of notes - fifty euro notes, twenties and tens. Mr Quinn said the man was wearing a peaked cap that was white or light blue. Denis McGovern was finishing work in the Greville Arms Hotel in Mullingar before 7pm on the night of the alleged murder when he met a man outside the hotel who asked him where he could get a change of clothes, saying he had to attend a function. Mr McGovern told him to ask in the hotel. Mary Tuite, manager of the Greville Arms Hotel, told the court that she was at the reception desk. A man came in and asked her if there was anywhere he could buy a suit. 'He was wearing a dark blue baseball cap and light blue jeans with stains on them. Ms Tuite said that she went into the office behind reception to call a clothes shop. When she returned to the reception desk, the man was gone. The trial continues today (Wednesday) at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.