Two on trial for murder with 11 stab wounds blame each other, court hears

Olivia Kelleher

Two people who are on trial for the murder of a man who was found dead at his home in Macroom, Co Cork, having suffered 11 stab wounds, blame each other for the injuries inflicted on the 61-year-old, a court has heard.

Daniel Hourigan and Linda O'Flynn are on trial at the Central Criminal Court in Cork, charged with the murder of Michael 'Mikey' Foley.

They have both pleaded guilty to acting in such a way as to impede the apprehension of an offender contrary to Section 7 Subsection 2 of the Criminal Law Act, 1997.

Jane Hyland, SC for the Prosecution, gave the jury of nine men and three women an outline of the case on Thursday. However, Ms Hyland emphasised that this was not evidence in itself.

Ms Hyland said that it was the case of the State that Mr Hourigan and Ms O’Flynn, who are both 32, killed Mr Foley in a “joint enterprise.”

“They were acting together. They intended to kill or cause serious injuries,” she said.

She said that Mr Foley was found dead in his home at Annville Housing Complex in Barrett’s Place in Macroom on February 6th, 2024. A care worker who visited the property raised the alarm after she found him dead on the kitchen floor of his home.

When gardaí arrived at the house, they noted that Mr Foley had been “severely beaten.” A postmortem was carried out on the deceased by Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster indicated that he suffered a “violent death” consistent with multiple blows, possibly from fists, in addition to 11 stab or slash wounds.

Ms Hyland stated that CCTV from the Macroom area was harvested in the aftermath of the discovery of the body. She said that on January 31st, 2024, Mr Foley was captured on CCTV going to the post office and to various supermarkets in Macroom. He was last seen alive on CCTV close to his home in the town at 8:15pm that evening.

Ms Hyland told the jury that Mr Hourigan and Ms O’Flynn were detected on CCTV the same evening making the journey by bus from Cork to Macroom. They were seen walking towards the home of Mr Foley.

Ms Hyland said that on the morning of February 1st, 2024, the two accused made the “reverse journey”.

She indicated that evidence would be presented to the jury that they got off their bus in Cork city, leaving a black bag behind in the hold area.

Ms Hyland said the jury would hear evidence from the bus driver who looked in the bag and spotted that there was a knife in it. The knife was put in a metal recycling bin.

However, Ms Hyland said that when it was recovered and forensically examined, it was found to have Mr Foley’s blood on it.

Ms Hyland said that when Mr Hourigan and Ms O’Flynn were interviewed by gardaí, they denied being in Macroom at the time of the alleged offence. However, by the end of their interviews, they blamed each other for the injuries sustained by Mr Foley.

Both defendants are charged with the murder of Michael Foley at a date unknown between January 31st and February 1st, 2024, both dates inclusive, in Macroom, Co Cork.

Ms Hourigan is originally from Farranree on the northside of Cork city, whilst Ms O’Flynn previously resided at Hollyhill in Cork. Mr Foley was a native of Clonakilty in west Cork.