Shocking Claim | 

Gravedigger accused of murder alleged partner was having incestuous relationship, jury hears

The accused said he had worked as a gravedigger in Mount Jerome for the last six or seven years and that he was going out with Amadea for the previous ten years

Alison O’Riordan

Today at 04:08

A gravedigger alleged to a social worker that he found evidence on a phone that his partner, who he is now on trial accused of murdering, was having an incestuous relationship with a relative, a jury has heard.

The Central Criminal Court also heard yesterday that gardai received an email which included screenshots taken from Amadea McDermott’s phone of text messages between her and the accused Martin Hayes.

Amadea told the accused in one of those messages: “I’m sick of ur accusations and ur sick thoughts, I’m not getting abused by you every few days”. [sic] She also told the accused in another message: “You can’t admit you are not well and need help”, the trial has heard.

Mr Hayes (34), with an address at Poddle Close, Crumlin, Dublin 12 has pleaded not guilty to murdering mother-of-two Amadea McDermott (27) at her home in Rathvale Drive, Ayrfield, Coolock on or about July 20, 2017.

The trial has heard that the accused told emergency services who arrived at Amadea’s home that the mother-of-two had self-harmed by stabbing herself.

However, a woman who later went out with the accused has given evidence that Mr Hayes told her he had “helped” Ms McDermott put a knife she was holding through her stomach.

A Garda witness has told the jury that the deceased’s sister, Eucharia McDermott, alleged that Mr Hayes had been physically abusive to Amadea in the past.

Social worker Ciara Lumsden today told Sean Gillane SC, prosecuting, that she met with Mr Hayes and his mother in the social work department in Coolock on August 25, 2017.

Ms Lumsden asked the accused about the circumstances of Amadea’s death and he said there had been an argument that evening.

The witness said Mr Hayes alleged that he had found evidence on WhatsApp on a phone that Amadea was having an incestuous relationship with a relative. The accused told Ms Lumsden that the couple began to argue and that he had walked away.

“He said she went silent which he found peculiar and then went back to check on Ms McDermott,” she continued.

Ms Lumsden said the accused told her that Amadea was on the floor with a puncture wound when he went back into the room. She said the accused told her that it had taken a little while to locate his phone but when he did he had called the ambulance.

The witness said she looked to explore whether conflict was a regular occurrence in the relationship and Mr Hayes advised they had a conflictual relationship.

Mr Hayes told the witness that on occasion Amadea would become violent and she would hit the accused, he would then slap her and that it would become particularly violent when they consumed alcohol.

Detective Garda Niall Gibbs told Michael D Hourigan BL, prosecuting, that Mr Hayes was invited to Coolock Garda Station on July 21, 2017 to make a statement in relation to the sudden passing of his partner.

In the statement, the accused said he had worked as a gravedigger in Mount Jerome for the last six or seven years and that he was going out with Amadea for the previous ten years.

He said they met on the social networking platform Bebo and had two children together. He said they had sex on the morning of July 19 and had started drinking vodka that night whilst watching ‘Love Island’.

He said everything was grand until the couple ran out of alcohol and the fighting started. He said they both took cocaine and did the ‘usual stuff; she looking at my phone and me looking at her’s’.

Mr Hayes said in his statement he had told Amadea that night that he was leaving her. He said she slapped him in the face and he slapped her back. He said Amadea grabbed a knife from the kitchen and he said “I don’t give a fuck anymore, I’m going” before he went to bed.

He said Amadea had stood at the bedroom door with the knife so he grabbed a machete. Mr Hayes said he told Amadea: “I couldn’t give a fuck what you do, you have lost me”.

He said Amadea told him that he was going to lose the best thing in his life and went back into the sitting room. The accused said he saw a leg from the sitting room door and blood on the floor. He rang 112 and spoke to the paramedics before she was brought to hospital.

Mr Hayes’ barrister, Marc Thompson Grolimund BL, made five section 22 concessions on his client’s behalf including that there was an application placed on Ms McDermott’s mobile phone by Mr Hayes. This application was able to track all data on the mobile phone, he said.

Detective Sergeant Anthony Maloney told Mr Hourigan, prosecuting, that he received an email from the deceased’s sister Eucharia McDermott in November 2019, which included screenshots taken from Amadea’s phone of text messages between her and the accused.

Amadea told the accused in one of those messages from July 2017: “I’m sick of ur accusations and ur sick thoughts, I’m not getting abused by you every few days”. [sic]

Amadea also told the accused in another message: “You can’t admit you are not well and need help”.

Det Sgt Maloney agreed with Mr Hourigan that he had conducted an examination of Amadea’s phone to check for the presence of a tracking software, which would allow a third party access to it.

He said a hidden app was on the deceased’s phone which had access to its contacts, callers, messages and social media. He said the user of the deceased’s phone would not have known of its presence as it’s designed for the user not to notice it is there. He said the accused’s phone was accessing this app on Ms McDermott’s phone.

Beauty therapist Dawn Teelan told Mr Gillane that Amadea and her sister Euphrasia had booked to get a spray tan in a salon on July 14, 2017.

Ms Teelan said Amadea and Euphrasia arrived at the salon at 6.15pm on July 14. She agreed with Mr Gillane that a spray tan involved a person undressing down to their underwear and going into a spray tent. The witness said that Euphrasia was waiting in another area of the salon when she was dealing with Amadea.

Mr Gillane put it to Ms Teelan that one of the principles that apply in her line of work is that she doesn’t comment on anyone’s body or appearance. “Absolutely not,” replied the witness.

Ms Teelan agreed with counsel that when Amadea went in for her spray tan she got a shock because she saw an amount of bruises on her body. The witness also agreed that she had spoken spontaneously to Amadea and said “what happened to you”. Ms Teelan said Amadea told her that “her little lad” had been “jumping all over her”.

The witness agreed that Amadea had “old yellowish bruises all over” her breasts and chest and fresh bruising on her back. She also said there was extensive bruising on the right side of Amadea’s lower back and upper back.

Ms Teelan said she did not accept how these bruises had been caused and felt that a four-year-old child could not have been the cause. “It was that bad I thought she was going to tell me she had been in a car crash,” said the witness.

Ms Teelan agreed that she gave the spray tan to Amadea that evening and didn’t ask her anymore about the injuries.

When it was Euphrasia’s turn to get her spray tan, Ms Teelan further agreed with counsel that she spoke to her about Amadea’s bruises and asked her whether her sister was OK. “I normally wouldn’t but I asked her sister if she was OK as I was worried about it,” she said.

Ms Teelan agreed that Euphrasia had rolled her eyes and said “we are not quite sure what is going on”. The witness said this was the last time that she saw Amadea McDermott.

The deceased’s mother, Margaret Heffernan who had to be pushed to the stand in her wheelchair by her daughter, told Mr Gillane that she is a mother-of-eight and would have seen Amadea regularly. The witness agreed that she and Amadea were very close saying: “She was a friend, everything to me”.

Ms Heffernan said she last saw Amadea alive on July 19 when she texted her daughter to drop cigarettes up to her. She said Amadea dropped the cigarettes onto the porch at 6.15pm that evening. The witness said she was able to see her daughter through the window and gave her “a thumbs up”.

Under cross-examination, Ms Heffernan told defence counsel Marc Thompson Grolimund BL that Amadea was a devoted mother and a beautiful girl, who had plans for the future. She also agreed she had told gardai that she would not accept that Amadea had taken her own life. “I will not accept that, never,” she told the jury.

Ms Heffernan began to cry as she told the courtroom: “She was a beautiful girl and I miss her terribly”.

The trial continues on Tuesday before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of eight men and four women.