A pharmacist from Galway, on trial for the murder of her elderly neighbour who was found dead in the bedroom of her home in Newry, Co Down, on Christams Day three years ago, has told a jury at Belfast Crown Court that she had visited the home but the deceased had still been alive when she left.
Galway-born Karen Walsh (45 ) with an address at Dublin Road, Newry, went on trial last week accused of allegedly murdering 81-year-old Maire Rankin. In the first week of the trial the jury heard that a cruxifix which hung over Mrs Rankin’s bed had been used to beat her around the face, and that she had been sexually assaulted after her death.
Walsh, who has business interests in Dublin, has denied the murder. She has admitted going next door with a bottle of vodka and a Christmas card but claims she had left after a half an hour when Mrs Rankin had gone to bed. On Tuesday this week, Walsh took the stand telling the jury that she had left the house in the early hours of Christmas morning 2008, that Mrs Rankin’s breathing was wheezy but that she was fine and still alive. As defence lawyer Peter Irvine put a number of questions to her Walsh denied assaulting her neighbour, sexually interfering with her, forcibly pulling her hair, or having an argument with Mrs Rankin. She said that she could not have been nicer to Mrs Rankin who was a “lovely” person. She added that she had been worried about Mrs Rankin’s breathing, debating on whether to invite the pensioner to stay at her house, however, Mrs Rankin insisted on staying as her family were due to visit for Christmas Day. The prosecution later put it to Walsh that she had been acting suspiciously asking police at the scene if Mrs Rankin had been beaten. Walsh denied these claims.
Earlier in the trial the jury heard that a DNA profile of Walsh was found on her elderly neighbour’s chin, as well as on Mrs Rankin’s body and on the cruxifix. A forensic biologist said the probability of the DNA belonging to someone else was less than one in one billion. Evidence was also given that Mrs Rankin had died as a result of being beaten around the head and sustaining 15 fractured ribs, coupled with her underlying medical conditions of hypertension and chronic asthma.
The trial continues.
