Cork murder trial jury told not guilty verdict is not an option
Olivia Kelleher
A man on trial for the murder of his partner can only be found guilty of murder or guilty of manslaughter as he made an admission in evidence that he killed her.
The jury at the trial of Adam Corcoran, who is charged with the murder of Daena Walsh at their home in John Barry House, Connolly Street in Midleton, Co Cork two years ago have been told by the trial judge that the verdict of not guilty of murder is not open to them.
Mr Corcoran, who is a native of Ballincollig in Co Cork, also denies a charge of arson in the same location on the same date.
Wicklow mother of two Daena Walsh (27) was found dead in a burning apartment on the afternoon of August 2nd, 2024. She had sustained 11 stab wounds and 14 incised wounds. She also had a partially amputated left arm.
The jury of eight men and four women will resume their deliberations on Thursday. They deliberated for one hour and 36 minutes on Wednesday at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork.
In her charge to the jury earlier on Wednesday, Judge Siobhan Lankford said that two verdicts were open to the jury on the most serious charge — guilty of murder or not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
“(A verdict of) not guilty (of murder) is not open to you given that Mr Corcoran has said he killed Ms Walsh.”
Meanwhile, under cross-examination by Prosecution senior counsel Donal O’Sullivan earlier this week Mr Corcoran (31) said “Yes, I killed her, yes.” He also accepted that it wasn’t in self-defence.
However, he denied a suggestion put to him by Mr O’Sullivan that he had tried to dismember the body of his long-term partner. He also replied “no” when asked if he had started a fire at the apartment on the day his partner was found dead.
Mr Corcoran said that he told gardaí that Walsh had killed herself, as that is what he “believed happened at the time.” However, he indicated that after a period of months, he remembered what happened.
Mr Corcoran said that in the two-week period before the death of Ms Walsh, the couple had been drinking to excess and using cocaine as well as taking Xanax, Valium and Benzodiazepines.
He insisted that he never intended to kill or cause serious harm to Ms Walsh. He also said that he loved her “very much”
In his closing speech to the jury, defence senior counsel, Brendan Grehan, said that there was no intention to murder in the case. He insisted that it was a a “manslaughter case — not a murder case.”
However, Mr O’Sullivan in his closing speech to the jury for the prosecution, said that Corcoran had lied so much that they could not rely on a word that he uttered.
The jury previously heard from State Pathologist Dr Yvonne McCartney who said that Ms Walsh had a gaping wound to her chest, a slit throat and a partially amputated left arm. One wound to her chest was 11.5cm in depth and some of her clothing was found lodged in her bones.
Dr McCartney said that Walsh had multiple sharp force injuries to her face, neck, chest and abdomen which led to hypovolemic shock and cardio-respiratory arrest.
