Louth murder trial hears 62-year-old woman died from severe blunt force trauma to the head

A 62-year-old woman died from severe blunt force trauma to the head and suffered multiple fractures to her skull, including one which may have been caused by "a stomping or kicking type of impact", a pathologist has told the Central Criminal Court.

Luke Donnelly (29), of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his mother Catherine Henry at her apartment on Bridge Street in Dundalk, Co Louth on a date unknown between May 23 and 24 2023.

The trial jury heard on the day the case opened that Mr Donnelly accepts that he caused multiple fractures to his mother's skull and that he left a blood-stained footprint on her back. 

State pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers told Garret Baker SC, prosecuting, that she conducted a post-mortem on Ms Henry on May 25, 2023 and found that her hair, hands and face were heavily blood-stained. She said death had been pronounced after 8pm on May 24, 2023. 

The expert witness said the deceased was wearing brown 'jegging' trousers and there was a section on the back of her cardigan, containing a footprint, which had been cut out and retained by the Garda Technical Bureau as evidence. 

Dr Okkers said Ms Henry had purple bruising over the face and a full thickness laceration on the left side of the forehead, where a portion of the skull could be observed. There were bruises over the nose and inside the lower lip. 

Dr Okkers found bruising on the right side of the head including the right temple and extending over the back of the head and behind the ear.

There was bruising on the inner part of the right upper arm and an appearance of fingertip or grip marks. 

The witness said there was extensive scalp bruising over the frontal area. She said the skull also showed a depressed fracture, which had pushed it inwards from whatever force was used.  

Dr Okkers said the layer which covers the brain showed extensive hemorrhage. 

In conclusion, the witness said there was extensive blunt force trauma to the face and head. She said a fracture was identified in the left temporal bone or left cheek bone and across the base of the skull. 

She said this fracture was depressed and may have been caused by a stomping or kicking type of impact, either by the heel of a foot or another object.

Dr Okkers said this type of injury occurs when force is applied on one side of the head and the head is supported on a hard surface. There were also scattered bruises on the back of the head. 

The cause of death, she said, was severe blunt force trauma to the head. 

At the outset of the trial, Conall MacCarthy SC, defending Mr Donnelly, made admissions on behalf of the accused including that Ms Henry's death was caused from severe blunt force trauma to the head, which was inflicted by Mr Donnelly.

Mr MacCarthy also told the jury that the blood-stained footprint on the deceased's outer garment belonged to Mr Donnelly and that the blood present on the heel of a Nike runner matched Ms Henry's.

The jury has heard evidence that in the early hours of May 23, the accused contacted his former partner Stacey Campbell, telling her he was coming over to her Drogheda address. The trial has heard that Mr Donnelly tried to push his way in but his mother managed to get him out and gardai were called.

CCTV footage is to show that Mr Donnelly left the house and got a bus to Dundalk, where he made his way to his mother's apartment on Bridge Street, where he had been living from time to time. The jury has heard that Ms Henry returned to her apartment an hour later around 9.45am on May 23 but was "never seen alive again".

Read Next: Gardaí investigate burglary in Dundalk

Ms Campbell has told the trial that the accused “wasn’t in a right state of mind for a long, long time” and was "saying he was Jesus".

Mr Donnelly's sister Kathleen told the jury that she was "absolutely terrified" of her mother growing up, as she "physically, verbally and emotionally" abused the witness and her siblings.

The accused's father Gerry Donnelly, who had once been married to the deceased, said Ms Henry had stabbed him in the arm with a steak knife during an argument around 1999 and that she had also pushed him down the stairs in a separate incident.

The trial continues today before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven men and five women.