A dog handler has told a woman’s double murder trial of the moment his specially trained German Shepherd gave him “an indication” at tarpaulin covered in undergrowth on a lake island where the decomposing bodies of two missing Dublin men would be found.
The trial further heard an arm “with a bit of clothing on it” fell out when a scene of crimes officer later cut open the tarpaulin.
A fisherman also told the trial of Ruth Lawrence, who is accused of murdering the two men over a decade ago, that he noticed a “dreadful smell coming off” the lake island on Lough Sheelin, which he associated with “rotten flesh”, a month after the men went missing.
Ms Lawrence (45), who is originally from Clontarf in Dublin but with an address at Patrick’s Cottage, Ross, Mountnugent in Co Meath has pleaded not guilty to murdering Anthony Keegan (33) and Eoin O’Connor (32) at an unknown location within the State on a date between April 22nd, 2014, and May 26th, 2014, both dates inclusive.
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Pat Smith, a former butcher, told Michael O’Higgins SC, prosecuting, he was fishing in a boat on Lough Sheelin with another man on May 18th, 2014.
Mr Smith said they had a breakto have tea and sandwiches and had moved “in close” to Inchicup Island on the lake “for cover”.
The witness said he had noticed a “dreadful smell coming off the island”.
Mr Smith said the reason he got suspicious was because the previous week he had seen the Garda Water Unit out searching for the “two bodies, the missing men”.
Asked whether he had associated the smell with anything, Mr Smith replied: “rotten flesh”. The witness said he had to pull the boat away from the shoreline because of the strength of the odour.
The next day, Mr Smith made contact with his friend Sgt Michael Bennett to alert him to what had happened, as he was mindful of the searches going on for the two missing men.
In his statement, Sgt Michael Bennett said Mr Smith’s view was that the decaying odour “was not related to animals”, as he had previously worked as a butcher.
Retired senior dog handler Garda Paul Conroy said a German Shepherd dog named ‘Dfor’ had been trained to use his sense of smell to locate missing people.
Upon landing on Inchicup Island on May 26th, 2014, Mr Conroy said: “Almost immediately the dog went off in dense undergrowth and gave me an indication, he stared at a particular spot.”
Mr Conroy said as he approached the area he could see “some sort of covering of plastic or tarpaulin” measuring six feet long and three/four feet wide, which was covered in branches.
Mr Conroy said the tarpaulin was tied up, so he gave his knife to a scenes of crime officer who cut it open. He said an arm had fallen out with a bit of clothing on it.
Inchicup Island was declared a crime scene and the two bodies were escorted from the island on a garda water unit boat on May 27th, 2014.
Sergeant Gerry Holland told the prosecutor that he searched Patrick’s Cottage on May 16th, 2014, which was a single storey dwelling with a number of outbuildings and sheds. The cottage was locked and secured so the search was confined to an external search.
During a search of the gardens the witness located evidence of a recent fire. He said it appeared to be a freshly burned area and the ground was black.
He seized metal shoelace rings, metal studs from clothing and grey cloth material from the charred remains. He also found metal and plastic which looked like they had originated from parts of a mobile phone.
In his opening address, Mr O’Higgins told the jury that the State would argue that Ms Lawrence shot drug dealer Mr O’Connor and worked “as a unit” with her boyfriend, Neville van der Westhuizen, to kill him and Mr Keegan, with their bodies later found “bound in rope, tape and covered in tarpaulin” on Inchicup Island.
Counsel for the State said the 12 jurors would hear evidence that the accused woman shot one of the two men but this was not immediately fatal and was “quickly followed up” by a shot from Mr van der Westhuizen.
The jurors were also told by Mr O’Higgins it is the prosecution case that the accused woman and her boyfriend had “spoken openly” about “the murders and disposing of the bodies”.
The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of four men and eight women.
