Darren Murphy pleads not guilty to murder charge

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Darren Murphy pleaded not guilty to the murder of Olivia Dunlea.

The charge concerns her death at Pembroke Crescent, Passage West, Co Cork, on 17 February 2013.

Murphy admitted killing Ms Dunlea and pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but the Director of Public Prosecutions did not accept that plea.

Prosecution counsel Thomas Creed said Murphy told gardaí that he had “snapped”, grabbed a knife and stabbed Ms Dunlea a number of times. State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy concluded that Ms Dunlea was alive when a fire was started and that either a stab wound to the neck or inhalation of toxic fumes caused her death.

The trial was continuing before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and a jury at the Central Criminal Court. The proceedings were reported on 16 May 2017.