James Connors pleads not guilty to Wexford murder

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

James Connors has pleaded not guilty to the murder of James Ryan. The charge concerns the alleged killing at Hollyville Heights in Wexford town on 25 January 2012. The proceedings were reported on 2 December 2015.

During evidence at the Central Criminal Court that day, Catriona Purdy described seeing a man waving a baton. She confirmed to defence counsel Michael Delaney SC that her statement to gardaí the day after the incident was accurate. In that statement, she said: “The bigger of the two was hitting the smaller man with a baton.”

Neighbours John Purdy and Tina Grogan told prosecution counsel Gerard Clarke SC that they saw two men fighting. They said the fight moved up a ramp out of their view and the taller man returned within about a minute.

Dr Karl Schmidt, a consultant surgeon at Wexford General Hospital, operated on Mr Ryan in the early hours of 25 January 2012 but could not save his life. He described five stab wounds, one to the shoulder and four to the abdomen. He disagreed with Michael Delaney SC that three wounds were “superficial”, saying that although they reached only as deep as the muscle, he did not consider them superficial.

The trial was continuing before Justice Margaret Heneghan.