Graham Dwyer pleads not guilty to Elaine O’Hara murder

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

Graham Dwyer is charged at the Central Criminal Court with murdering Elaine O’Hara, a 36-year-old childcare worker, in Co Dublin on 22 August 2012. He has pleaded not guilty. The proceedings were reported on 28 January 2015.

The jury saw a photograph of Ms O’Hara’s punctured and blood-stained mattress, which gardaí found after her remains were discovered at Killakee on 13 September 2013.

Anthropologist Laureen Buckley testified that the body had decomposed where the remains were discovered. She estimated that it was likely about a year, but no more than two years, since death. She said there was no evidence of trauma to the bones and attributed some post-mortem damage to animals.

Garda Brian Barry said he visited Ms O’Hara’s apartment on 20 September 2013. He told the trial that he removed a sheet and found bloodstains, and also observed cuts in the mattress and plastic tie wraps on the floor.

The trial continued before Mr Justice Tony Hunt and a jury of five women and seven men. It was expected to last up to eight weeks.