A father-of-eight, who cleaned up and removed blood-stained evidence from his house where 17-year-old Kean Mulready Woods was murdered, had "no inkling" what would happen when he "surrendered" his Drogheda home to an organised criminal group, the Central Criminal Court was told on Monday.
The court heard during a sentence hearing of 52-year-old Gerard McKenna that a blood-stained ballistic vest belonging to the Drogheda teenager was discovered at a nearby burn site along with rubber gloves, a box of Swiss Army knives and part of a sofa.
Evidence was also given that a car parked in a laneway at the back of the accused's house contained a blood-stained axe and a bone fragment. The keys to that car were also found in McKenna's house.
The court further heard that the person who ordered McKenna to surrender his house was "a person of very significant notoriety, with a number of murders attributed to him, including that of a close friend".
This person, who has since passed away, "was not easy to say no to and when they tell you to do something you do it," submitted defence counsel Michael O'Higgins SC.
Gerard McKenna of Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth appeared at the court on Monday for his sentence hearing, having pleaded guilty last November to cleaning up and removing evidence from the scene at or near Rathmullan Park, Drogheda in Co Louth, with intent to impede the apprehension or prosecution of a person or persons, knowing or believing that the said person or persons were guilty of the murder of Mr Mulready Woods (17), on a date unknown between January 12th and 14th 2020, both dates inclusive.
The offence is contrary to Section 7(2) of the Criminal Law Act 1997.
Mr Mulready Woods, from Drogheda, was last seen alive in the town on January 12th, 2020.
Body parts
The following day, some of the teenager's dismembered body parts were found in a holdall in the Moatview area of Coolock in Dublin.
Two days later, his head, hands and feet were found in a burning car in the Drumcondra area of Dublin.
At Monday's sentencing hearing, Detective Sergeant Peter Cooney detailed the background to the incident, telling prosecution counsel Michael Delaney SC that Mr Mulready Woods lived at Marley's Lane in Drogheda with his mother and had been reported missing by her on the afternoon of January 13th, 2020.
Mr Mulready Woods had been on bail at the time with certain curfew conditions and that was how his mother became aware that he was missing. "It was not like him to miss the curfew," said the detective.
Outlining the events that led up to the incident, Mr Delaney said that Mr Mulready Woods was last seen by a number of witnesses at Dominic's Bridge in Drogheda. CCTV footage showed the teenager getting into a taxi at that location which brought him to the Ballsgrove area, where there are a number of shops. McKenna's house was within walking distance of the Ballsgrove area.
The detective said that "Mr A" was seen paying for the taxi on CCTV footage and the victim went into a Centra shop in the company of that man. Mr Mulready Woods was then seen getting into a navy blue Volkswagen Jetta, which was owned by another individual. Both of these men are suspects in the investigation, he said.
'Gruesome'
Mr Delaney said the discovery of Mr Mulready Woods remains' were "pretty gruesome". On January 14th at 9.45pm, human remains were found in a sports bag in the Moatview area of Coolock in Dublin by people out walking. Two days later, a skull was located in the boot of a burned out Volvo car near Clonliffe Road by a member of Dublin Fire Brigade, who had arrived at the scene to put out the fire. Part of the teenager's torso was located last year at a location quite close to Rathmullen Park. The cause of death could not be ascertained, he said.
At 4.50pm on January 14th, a search was carried out at McKenna's house and he was present at the time. Immediately, there was a strong smell of paint when gardaí entered the two-bedroom council house and a technical examination was carried out over a number of days.
Gardaí learned that the scene had been cleaned up by painting, while part of the floor in the lounge had been replaced. Despite the clean-up, blood-staining including splatter and cast-off staining was evident throughout the house in a number of different locations. Swabs taken from these locations matched the victim's blood.
Blood splatter
There was blood splatter spanning along the bottom of a window, a leg of the television stand and the front area of a Sky box. The blood extended to the side of the television and to the fireplace. There was also cast off blood-staining on the internal hot press door and on the ceiling in the lounge.
The detective said a blood-stained couch was found in the backyard of the house, which matched the victim's DNA. The court heard that Mr Mulready Woods had been assaulted within the lounge area of the house and his blood was found on the lower end of the couch, which was in the lounge at the time of the assault.
According to the witness, it was likely floorboards had been installed into the lounge area after the incident and that the walls and ceiling had been painted due to cast-off splatter from the victim. The new wooden flooring, he said, had not been put under the skirting boards and had just been "put to the corner" still exposing the hinges underneath the original floors.
Fire
Gardaí also discovered the remains of a fire in Ballsgrove area, which is not far from McKenna's house. The fire was probably lit early on January 14th, said the detective, and items were later recovered from the fire including part of the "L shaped sofa" from the defendant's house, a rubber glove and a ballistics stab vest as well as a box of Swiss Army knives, both with the victim's blood on them.
A pair of jeans and a jacket belonging to McKenna were found in his house, and they also had the victim's blood on it.
A red Toyota Corolla car was also parked at the back of the defendant's house, while the keys were found inside the house.
In the boot of the car, gardaí located a number of items containing the victim's blood including an axe with blood on its handle and a pair of socks. A bone fragment was also located on the back passenger seat.
Pills
Mr Delaney said that McKenna was out of his home from lunchtime on January 12th and had met some men in a café in the centre of Drogheda. The next night, the accused went to a man's home near his house and this man had provided three statements to gardaí.
In the first statement, the man said he recalled McKenna being in his living room with a big packet of pink pills. "He was acting very different to the way he usually acts and talking funny. His two legs were hopping. He said he could have been down there cut up. I didn't have a clue what he was on about. While ranting he was also crying. I'd no idea what that meant when he said he could have been cut up," the man told gardai.
The man said that "Ged" was still in his house when he woke up the next morning. "I overheard a conversation between him [McKenna] and my son. He said he had nowhere to go and they wouldn't let him into the bungalow. He said he let a pot of paint fall," said the man, adding that he gave McKenna three packets of wooden flooring and emulsion.
The detective said gardaí got CCTV footage from a hardware shop in Drogheda from January 13th and it showed him purchasing paint.
The court heard McKenna went back to his house on the Monday morning to find his couch removed to the backyard, with the defendant saying he did not recognise the place.
Arrest
McKenna was arrested on February 20th and brought to Drogheda Garda Station. The court heard he was taken to hospital on two occasions during his detention.
During his 15 interviews McKenna denied painting his house and laying the new floor. He then said "they" gave him money to buy paint without specifying who "they" were.
When asked to account for the objects in the fire, McKenna said: "I didn't know the child had a vest. We were told to burn the bags, I didn't know what was in them. I was told to burn the settee. You said it was an abattoir, it was clean. I was told what to do. I wanted to save my kids, I had to do it for my kids. I was told to clean the house, but it was already cleaned".
The court heard McKenna had been supplied with prescription drugs earlier in his detention. "During the course of his movement, he managed to get a bottle of tablets [while] in custody, he took them and [this] resulted in him being brought to hospital," said the detective.
McKenna told gardaí that he had carried out "the instructions" under duress.
The defendant has seven children with his wife and subsequently had a child from a more recent relationship.
Mr Delaney told the court that the maximum sentence for such an offence is 10 years in prison.
The court heard that McKenna has 14 previous convictions which include violent disorder, theft and burglary.
Crime gang
Under cross-examination, the detective agreed with defence counsel Mr O’Higgins that the "rather tragic and very harrowing circumstances" in which the victim lost his life arose where Mr Mulready Woods was "lured" to his client's house at Rathmullen Park by members of an organised criminal gang.
Mr O'Higgins put it to the witness that the motive was "apparently something very petty" but the detective replied: "No, there may be more to it".
The detective also agreed with the barrister that McKenna was not a member of the gang but was "someone who could be relied upon". "Gardaí were satisfied he had no inkling of what would take place when he surrendered his house, he obviously did it knowing something bad would happen but no specifics," said Mr O'Higgins.
The court heard that McKenna has a long-standing and significant history of abusing prescribed medicine. He was "off his head on" Xanex after he was involved in the clean-up and had previously taken cocaine, said Mr O'Higgins.
The detective said that when McKenna was asked by gardaí about the people involved, he said he could not tell as they would kill and "mince" his child.
McKenna told gardaí that he did not know why he took "the call". The detective agreed with Mr O'Higgins that this person, who is now dead, was of very significant notoriety and had a number of murders attributed to him, including that of a very close friend.
The detective agreed that "these people" are not easy to say no to and one does what they say.
In his submissions, Mr O'Higgins said his client had expressed very significant remorse and remained very ashamed of his actions. His children and siblings, he said, had faced some backlash from his actions.
Mr O'Higgins said he was not saying that his client was not liable for his actions as he could have gone to gardaí. "The manner of the cleanup is telling, to say it was a half job would be an understatement. He was so poor with his efforts that the other part of the couch was in the back garden with the deceased's blood on it. It was a very half-hearted job. One of the reasons why that might be so was because he was taking a lot of prescribed medication, he got through this event in something of a haze," he added.
In mitigation, Mr O'Higgins asked the court to consider that his client was very seriously remorseful for having allowed his house to be used in this particular endeavour, and he had "no forewarning" for what took place.
Another factor in mitigation, he said, was that McKenna was "not very embroiled" in the event and gardai accepted that he was not there at the time.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott remanded McKenna in custody until March 8th, when he will be sentenced.
