Judge tells jury in Cork murder case that accused's girlfriend is not the one on trial 

The presiding judge in the Macroom murder trial today told the jury the real issue is "whether it was Daniel Hourigan who committed the act and carried out the assault” and they do not have to reach a decision on what his girlfriend at the time did. 

The only person on trial in this murder case is 33-year-old Daniel Hourigan who is originally from Farranree, and he denied the murder of 61-year-old Michael Foley. His girlfriend at the time, Linda O’Flynn, who is originally from the Hollyhill area of Cork, has been mentioned frequently throughout the trial.

However, Ms Justice Siobhán Lankford said: “Linda O’Flynn is not on trial. You know what you know about her. You are entitled to know that… You have seen her being very aggressive in the garda station (on video recording of an interview during this investigation).

“Mr Hourigan is entitled to say she is capable of it. But the question for you is not, did Linda O’Flynn do it? The question is, did Daniel Hourigan do this?” 

The trial, which commenced on July 1, went into one of the final stages today where the judge outlined the legal principles that will govern their deliberations and she summarised the evidence they had heard over the past fortnight.

The prosecution case is that Michael Foley was murdered on February 1, 2024, at his home at Annville, Barrett’s Place, Macroom. Daniel Hourigan pleaded not guilty to his murder.

Ms Jane Hyland, senior prosecution counsel, explained what was meant by the response to the murder charge made by the accused when she said: “Not guilty of murder but guilty of assisting an offender under Section 7 Subsection 2 of the Criminal Law Act 1997.” 

She said that in non-legal language, “what that means is that he is saying to you that he helped another person when they committed an offence to prevent them being caught,” but that he is not guilty of murder.

Ray Boland, defence senior counsel, said the person Daniel Hourigan was trying to prevent being caught was Linda O’Flynn because he understood at the time that she was pregnant with his child, but in fact she was not pregnant.

The judge referred in the course of her summary of the evidence that at Bandon courthouse in February 2024 Daniel Hourigan was sitting beside Detective Garda Fintan Coffey after his first court appearance, having just been charged with murder. Following questioning for allegedly murdering Michael Foley, Daniel Hourigan said: “Fintan, it was not pre-meditated.” 

The judge reminded the jurors that Daniel Hourigan said in the witness box: “That was referring to Linda and what she done to Michael.” 

Explaining where the standard lay for a verdict beyond reasonable doubt, Ms Justice Lankford said: “If you think it is possible, it is likely, it is highly likely, highly possible, that is not enough, you need to be satisfied beyond reasonable doubt.” She said he had already pleaded guilty to preventing another person being caught so the jury did not need to concern themselves with that.

“You have two verdicts open to you. The only job you have is to decide whether he is guilty of murder or not guilty of murder. Your decision must be unanimous,” Ms Justice Lankford said.

The six men and six women deliberated for a very short period this afternoon and will resume their deliberations in the morning at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Cork.