No evidence that murder victim was killed by strangulation, former State pathologist told trial

The cause of death of Cork woman Nora Sheehan, who went missing before her body was found dumped in dense undergrowth 42 years ago, is unascertained and there is no evidence she was strangled, a former State pathologist has told a cold case murder trial.

However, Dr Marie Cassidy agreed with prosecution lawyers that death from asphyxia by one of two methods could not be proved or disproved.

Dr Cassidy, who was today called by the defence, told the jury it could not be excluded that the mother of three had suffered a heart attack due to cardiac arrhythmia during an assault or that she could have been suffocated by her head being pressed into a bed or pillow. The witness also testified it appeared most likely Mrs Sheehan died elsewhere and her body was transported to Shippool Woods in Cork.

Noel Long, 74, of Maulbawn, Passage West, Co Cork has pleaded not guilty to murdering Mrs Sheehan, 54, between June 6 and June 12, 1981, at an unknown place within the State. Her body was found at The Viewing Point, Shippool Woods six days after she went missing.

Evidence has been given that Dr Robert Dermot Coakley conducted an autopsy on Mrs Sheehan on June 13, 1981, but he died just weeks later.

In his opening address, Brendan Grehan, prosecuting, said the State could not say precisely how Mrs Sheehan died, but it was their case that she met her death by means of foul play. He said this was apparent from the examination of Dr Coakley combined with the circumstances of the findings of Mrs Sheehan’s “naked and bruised body dumped a distance from the roadside in dense undergrowth”, where it was found “a long way away from where she was last seen alive”.

Dr Cassidy told Michael Delaney, defending, she was asked in 2008 by gardaí attached to the Serious Crime Review Team to review the findings of Dr Coakley and provide an opinion based on that. She prepared a report in September 2010 and furnished it to investigating gardaí. She also provided an additional report in May 2013 addressing various hypotheses by gardaí.

Dr Cassidy was provided with body sketches on which notes had been made by Dr Coakley at various points during the victim’s post-mortem. She was also provided with Dr Coakley’s partly typed and partly handwritten report arising out of the post mortem.

Dr Cassidy proceeded to read the autopsy to the jury, where Dr Coakley said he visited Shippool Woods at 8.35pm on June 12 and 13, 1981, where he saw the dead body of a woman lying partly on her back.

Asked to set out the conclusions in her report, Dr Cassidy said she found it most likely that Mrs Sheehan had died elsewhere and that her body was transported to where she was found at Shippool Woods. She said as the victim was found completely unclothed and with an injury to her vagina, it was possible she had been sexually assaulted.

The expert witness noted there were no ligature marks or deep bruising on the neck. She said if there had been deep bruising on the neck there would have been deep pressure on that area, but that hadn’t been described in the report.

She said there was no evidence that any weapon had been used, while the injury to the victim’s head and face could have been due to blows inflicted. Asked about the degree of force used, Dr Cassidy said there was sufficient force to cause bruising, but not to cause damage to the skeleton.

There was no evidence, she said, that Mrs Sheehan had been strangled and despite part of the dress being found around the lower face it would not have been expected to have caused her death by suffocation.

Under cross-examination, Mr Grehan put it to the witness that she set out in the conclusion of her report that it appeared most likely that Mrs Sheehan had died elsewhere and her body was transported to where she was found. 

“Is that because of where she was found, down from the road in dense undergrowth and her clothes pulled over her head?” asked counsel. 

Dr Cassidy agreed and said the victim had scratches on her back which suggested she was probably dragged by the legs through overgrowth down to where she was found. Dr Cassidy agreed that with the injuries around the victim’s nose and face she was concerned as to whether asphyxia was the cause of death.

In summary, Dr Cassidy agreed with Mr Grehan that a pathologist can only go so far in terms of giving answers and sometimes it is not possible to find the exact mechanism as to how death came about. 

“You can’t exclude asphyxia by either of the two methods; hand on face and nose or the face being pushed into a pillow causing breathing to stop,” asked the barrister. 

Dr Cassidy said this couldn’t be proved or disproved.

In re-examination, Dr Cassidy told Mr Delaney that Mrs Sheehan’s cause of death was unascertained.

The defence counsel asked the witness as to how easy it was to smother an adult, to which the witness replied “quite difficult”.

She added: “To put a hand over someone’s face for whatever reason, people will struggle and fight back against it and it is very difficult to sustain the pressure for that length of time.”

The trial continues tomorrow.