Mobile phone evidence heard in Christy Hanley murder trial

Calls made to a mobile phone attributed to the man accused of murdering 83-year old pensioner Christy Hanley last year bounced off a mast in Kilbeggan on the day of the alleged murder, the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday (Thursday). Noel Cawley (47), of no fixed abode, but with a previous address in Castleblaney, Co Monaghan, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr Hanley at his home on Bridge St, Kilbeggan, Co Westmeath, on May 21 last year. He has also pleaded not guilty to robbing Mr Hanley of an unknown sum of money at the same address on the same date. It is the prosecution"s case that Mr Cawley tied Mr Hanley up, robbed him and beat him to death. D Gda Pat Connell told the court of a number of telephone calls made to and from a mobile phone attributed to the accused on the day of the alleged murder. He said the phone attributed to Mr Cawley received a number of calls from Mr Cawley"s partner, Corrina West. The calls were routed through a mast at Kilbeggan racecourse. The last call received by the phone attributed to Mr Cawley"s phone, routed through the Kilbeggan mast, was at 6.39pm. The court heard a number of calls later that evening bounced off masts in Mullingar and Killucan. The court has previously heard that Mr Cawley was wearing a baseball cap and light blue jeans as well as carrying a schoolbag on the day of the alleged murder. The court was also told that a man wearing similar clothes was recorded by CCTV cameras in Kilbeggan on the day of the alleged murder and in Mullingar that night. The court heard earlier in the week from Deputy State Pathologist Michael Curtis, who said Mr Hanley 'seemed to have been beaten about the head and face'. 'This could have been caused by blows, punches and kicks.' He said Mr Hanley bled from his injuries and that this would have caused obstruction to his breathing. Dr Curtis said Mr Hanley could have died from inhaling the blood. 'Somebody who is beaten and may be concussed is... at the risk of inhaling blood into the airways, rendering the person unable to breathe.' Joanne Gaffney told the court that she was employed at Debenham"s clothing store on Henry Street in Dublin in May last year. She said she served a man the day after the alleged murder and he bought a suit, shirt, tie and a pair of shoes. He wore the new clothes and put his old clothes in a Debenham"s bag before he left. Ms Gaffney said the man paid in cash and had a bulk of €50 notes on him. Gda Enda Kenny told the court yesterday that he was working in Tullamore Garda Station the day after the alleged murder. He received a phonecall between 8.55am and 9am. The caller, a male, said that Christy Hanley was tied up in his house in Kilbeggan before hanging up. The court had heard earlier in the trial that gardai had traced this call to a phone box outside Eason"s on Dublin"s Abbey Street. Cawley"s partner, Corinne West, from St Mel"s Terrace in Athlone, told the court last week she had visited Cawley in Dublin on the day after the alleged murder. Ms West said she and Cawley had separated after a relationship and had two children, now aged 17 and 16. She later married, but had since separated. Her children by Cawley had wanted to see their father and he had returned to live with them. Another witness told the court on Monday that a man who looked 'in a panic to get out of Kilbeggan' asked him for a lift on the evening of the alleged murder. William Slater Jnr told the court that he was working with his father in Kilbeggan on the day of the alleged murder. He said that when they were driving out of Kilbeggan, at approximately 6.20pm, a man jumped out from behind a black people carrier that was parked outside the deceased, Mr Hanley"s, house. They dropped the man at a roundabout outside Kilbeggan. Mr Slater said he saw the man run off in the direction of the Dublin Rd. Ian Dwyer, a lorry driver, told the court he picked up a man at a roundabout outside Kilbeggan at approximately 6.20pm on the day of the alleged murder and dropped him at Gannon"s Concrete, before Castletown Geoghegan, and the man tried to give him money and pulled out a wad of €50 notes, looking for €20. Greg Quinn, a delivery van driver, told the court that he was driving to Mullingar on the evening of the alleged murder. He said that he encountered a man outside Kilbeggan 'not too far past Gannon"s concrete'. He brought him to Mullingar, where the man threw money towards him. He took it from a bundle of notes - fifty euro notes, twenties and tens. Mr Quinn said the man was wearing a peaked cap that was white or light blue. That same evening a man came into the Greville Arms Hotel in Mullingar and asked where he could buy a suit. Manager Mary Tuite told the court she went into the office behind reception to call a clothes shop. When she returned to the reception desk, the man was gone. The trial continues today (Friday) at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.