Graham Dwyer's work phone did not connect to any mobile phone mast cell between 5pm and 9pm on the evening Elaine O'Hara disappeared, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.
And a phone, referred to as master phone, and allegedly used by Mr Dwyer, sent a text to a phone allegedly used by Ms O’Hara at 6pm on August 22nd, 2012, stating “go down to shore and wait”.
Sarah Skedd said Mr Dwyer's work phone connected to a cell site at ESB headquarters, Fitzwilliam Street at 4.55pm and did not connect with the network again until minute before 9pm.
Sean Guerin SC, for the prosecution, asked Ms Skedd about the whereabouts of the 086 Nokia phone, referred to as a “master phone”, and one of a pair of phones recovered from the Varty Reservoir, at 6pm that evening.
Ms Skedd said it was connected with a phone cell in Shankill and it sent a text message to the other Nokia phone, referred to as the slave phone and allegedly used by Ms O’Hara.
Mr Guerin asked what the content of the text message was.
“Go down to shore and wait,” Ms Skedd responded.
Credit top-ups for an 086 Nokia phone allegedly used by murder-accused Graham Dwyer were purchased in a deli across the road from his place of work, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Crime and policing analyst Sarah Skedd said the phone, referred to as “master phone” and one of a pair recovered by gardaí from the Vartry Reservoir, was topped up with credit from Jones’s Deli on Baggot Street, opposite A&D Wejchert Architects, where Mr Dwyer worked.
She also said a call credit top-up was purchased for the master phone on July 3rd, 2012 at Centra Cathal Brugha Street, and on the same day Mr Dwyer was attending a hearing at An Bord Pleanála, Cathal Brugha Street.
Ms Skedd said the master phone had four numbers in its call log that were the entry codes for Belarmine Plaza, where Ms O’Hara lived. One of the codes was logged on August 15th, 2012 at the same time as Mr Dwyer was seen on CCTV footage at the apartment block.
Sean Guerin SC, for the prosecution, reminded the jury that Mr Dwyer had made an admission that he was the person on the CCTV footage.
Mr Dwyer (42), an architect from Kerrymount Close in Foxrock, is charged with murdering childcare worker Elaine O’Hara (36) on August 22nd, 2012.
He has pleaded not guilty.
Ms O’ Hara’s remains were found in forestry on Kilakee Mountain, Rathfarnham, on September 13th, 2013.
Ms Skedd also examined the usage of mobile phone mast cells by Mr Dwyer’s work phone and an 083 number allegedly owned by Mr Dwyer.
She explained that “user input” was required when a person sent a text or made a phone call, but input was not required to receive a text.
Asked if there was any occasion when user input was required for both Mr Dwyer’s work phone and the 083 number that would contradict the suggestion that the same user was using both phones. Ms Skedd said no, but explained there were several instances when the 083 phone received messages when it was not in the same place as the work phone.
“So only when one of the phones did not require user input?” Mr Guerin asked.
“Yes,” Ms Skedd responded.
She agreed with Mr Guerin that on April 3rd, 2012, Mr Dwyer was recorded in his work records as being on holiday and his work phone used phone mast cells in Bandon Co Cork and the 083 number used a cell in Kinsale, Co Cork.
Both phones also used cells at Cashel between 16.39 hours and 16.50 hours.
Mr Guerin highlighted cell usage on dates including December 6th and December 21st, 2011. On the evening of the 21st, Mr Dwyer’s work phone used a cell at Howth yacht club and the master phone used Howth harbour cell, Mr Guerin said. Ms Skedd agreed.
She also agreed both phones had used cells in Galway on July 4th, 2012, and connected with cells “near Mr Dwyer’s place of work” after 2.45pm that day. They both used cells in Ballyshannon, Co Donegal on July 5th, 2012.
The following day they used cells “consistent with the journey back to Dublin” Mr Guerin said, and ended using cells “to the right of Kerrymount Close and pointing in the direction of Kerrymount Close”, Mr Guerin said. Ms Skedd agreed.
On July 8th, Mr Dwyer’s model airplane was identified in a photo of a competition at Carron Model Flying Club, Limerick Junction, the jury was told.
Mr Guerin asked if the master phone connected to a cell at Limerick Junction on the same day. Ms Skedd said it did. It also connected with a cell in Tipperary town at 12.50pm and by 8.34pm, it was connecting with Carrickmines and Mr Dwyer’s workplace phone was connecting to a cell at Rochestown Lodge, in Killiney.
Under cross-examination by Ronan Kennedy BL, for Mr Dwyer, Ms Skedd explained how she searched photos taken at two toll booths of cars travelling to Galway on July 4th, 2012. She checked “10 or 20” car registrations in the Pulse system before she identified Mr Dwyer’s car.
When she went into his address, she saw he lived in south Dublin and worked in Baggot Street, and that was consistent with the phone cell use of the man she was searching for.
“I stopped checking after that,” she said.
“Did you go back and check other cars later?” Mr Kennedy asked.
“No, I did not,” Ms Skedd responded.
She agreed with Mr Kennedy that on a number of days, when she compared cell use of Mr Dwyer’s work phone with the cell use for the 083 number, they had used cells in different locations at the same time. She said this applied only when one of the phones was receiving texts only. The same applied to a comparison between Mr Dwyer’s work phone and the 086 master phone.
Ms Skedd also agreed that discrepancies in some of the data sent to her by phone service provider Hutchinson 3G were of “significant concern”. She said some cell heights and directions were “set as zero”. She contacted Hutchinson and asked them to correct the data, which they did.
“I didn’t want to come into court with inaccurate data,” Ms Skedd said.
Mr Kennedy asked her to confirm that she said in her report, prepared for court, that “errors such as this could have serious consequences for the case”. She agreed.
“That’s why they had to be rectified,” she said.
The trial continues.
