The murder trial at Dublin's Central Criminal Court relating to the death of 30 years old Derry mother of four, Jean Quigley, has heard evidence of wailing coming from the dead woman's home on on July 26, 2008, the morning she died.
Shauna Mellon, a neighbour of Jean Quigley told the court on Friday that she heard wailing coming from the home of the deceased on the morning she died.
Ms. Mellon said the wailing lasted for about 10 minutes
Father-of-one Stephen Cahoon (37) o
f Harvey Street, Derry admits killing the mother of his unborn child in her home at Cornshell Fields, Shantallow. However he has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his ex-girlfriend. A post mortem found that the 30-year-old mother-of-four was strangled and beaten.
“It was a very disturbing noise,” Ms. Mellon said of the sound coming from Ms Quigley’s home.
“The only way I can describe it was if you told someone that someone had died suddenly and they wail,” she explained. “That wailing sound someone makes when very distressed or upset.”
Ms Mellon, said she also heard a male voice.
“I couldn’t make out what he was saying,” she said. “He didn’t appear to be roaring or mad, but a very stern, loud voice is what I heard.”
Evidence was also given on Friday by Peter Barr, the partner of Ms Quigley’s sister, Ann Marie, who said he found parcel tape beside her body.
Mr. Barr said he drove Ms Quigley’s mother, Emma McBride, to the victim’s house after her family were unable to contact her throughout the day.
He said Ms McBride unlocked the door and went upstairs calling her daughter’s name while he checked downstairs.
He ran upstairs when he heard Ms McBride in a distraught state.
“The first thing I noticed when I walked into the room was Jean’s leg hanging out of the bed,” he said, adding that her body was partially covered by a quilt and her head was towards the bottom of the bed.
Checked for pulse
He checked for a pulse but it was apparent she was dead, he said.
As he was ringing the police, he said he noticed a length of brown parcel tape on the floor beside the bed.
“I picked the tape up,” he said. “Then I thought to myself what it might have been used for and put it back down.” He explained that he had seen bruising on her wrists.
Mr Barr also saw a knife on a chest of drawers.
Taxi driver Anthony Friel told Patricia McLoughlin BL, prosecuting, that he was called to bring a fare from the defendant’s flat to Ms Quigley’s house about 1.55 that morning.
“I just remember the lad was standing at the door with a holdall,” he said, describing the passenger, who sat in the front, as quiet. “When we got to the entrance to Cornshell Fields, he asked to be dropped off there.”
Michael O’Higgins SC, defending, said his client had no recollection of carrying anything, and that Mr Fiel had not mentioned the holdall in his first statement.
Matthew Gallagher, another taxi driver, said he collected a man in his 30s from the bus shelter on Steelstown Road about 6.30 that morning.
