![\"Fergus](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/5054b390-b383-4e9c-8b50-733cbe6bab37.jpg\")
<\/p>\nVictim was found drenched in blood and would have collapsed quickly, pathologist states\n<\/p>\n
Paudie O\u2019Connor, (42), Caisle\u00e1n M\u00f3r, Castleisland, was found drenched in blood and pronounced dead outside a house where had been living in the early hours of June 28, 2024, the court, sitting in Limerick, was told.<\/p>\n
His brother Fergus O\u2019Connor (41), Scartaglen, Castleisland, denies a charge of murdering his sibling. The brothers, who had both been drinking that day, had allegedly fought one another after they had attended a funeral of a cousin.<\/p>\n
Assistant State pathologist, Dr Margaret Bolster, gave evidence of having conducted a post mortem on the Paudie O\u2019Connor\u2019s body.<\/p>\n
Dr Bolster told the court that Paudie O\u2019Connor died from a single stab wound that firstly penetrated his chest, nicked one of his ribs, and penetrated right through the right ventricle of his heart and into his liver. Dr Bolster, who, it was heard, is a forensic pathologist, said the entire stab wound was \u201c17cm in length\u201d.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Fergus O’Connor<\/p>\n
News in 90 Seconds, Friday October 10 <\/p>\n
Dr Bolster said it appeared from blood-stained footprints found at the scene that Paudie O\u2019Connor walked down stairs at the house following the alleged attack and that he would have \u201ccollapsed quickly\u201d.<\/p>\n
The pathologist said the results of toxicology tests she performed on the victim\u2019s blood, at autopsy, showed that the level of alcohol in his blood was the equivalent of him being more than five times over the legal limit for driving.<\/p>\n
Dr Bolster said, however, that alcohol \u201cdid not contribute\u201d to Paudie O\u2019Connor\u2019s death, although she agreed under cross examination that it would have \u201cimpaired\u201d his judgement and his reactions at the time.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/35f07fb5-7d5b-45bc-a525-f5a49134195d.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
The late Paudie O’Connor<\/p>\n
The cause of Paudie O\u2019Connor\u2019s death was Hemopericardium, where, Dr Bolster explained, caused 250mls of fresh blood to fill Mr O\u2019Connor\u2019s pericardial sac (sac around the heart), which in turn put pressure on his heart and its ability to pump blood.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe person goes into shock and dies,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Dr Bolster said that, in her opinion, the weapon used to stab Paudie O\u2019Connor, was \u201ca knife with a single cutting blade\u201d.<\/p>\n
There were no other significant injuries to the body, bar a number of \u201csuperficial\u201d insignificant bruises and grazes.<\/p>\n
Dr Bolster agreed with prosecuting senior counsel, Michael Delaney, assisted by Tom Rice BL, and instructed by the State Solicitor\u2019s Office, County Kerry, that her notes of the death scene were that Paudie O\u2019Connor\u2019s body was \u201clying on its back, covered by blankets, both arms were in a spread-eagled position, the legs were extended, and the body was heavily bloodstained\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cA stab wound could be seen on the left of the thorax, the entire body was heavily bloodstained, including the soles of (Paudie\u2019s) feet. Blood was also present inside the house,\u201d Ms Bolster noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe body was heavily blood-smeared, including the face, the thorax of the chest, both lower limbs and feet.\u201d<\/p>\n
There were no defensive wounds on the body, she added.<\/p>\n
A GP attached to Southdoc said he went to Tralee Garda Station to examine Fergus O\u2019Connor, following his arrest, to certify him fit or unfit to be questioned by investigating garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n
Dr Liqua Ali told the court that he found Fergus O\u2019Connor with blood on his face, his hands, and his clothes. Dr Ali said he found no injury on the accused, and that Fergus O\u2019Connor appeared \u201cvery anxious and intoxicated\u201d.<\/p>\n
The doctor said he certified Fergus O\u2019Connor as being unfit to be interviewed by gardai for a number of hours.<\/p>\n
Mark Nicholas, defending, told the court that when blood was washed off of Fergus O\u2019Connor\u2019s face at the garda station it revealed what appeared to be an injury \u201cabove his eye, on his forehead\u201d.<\/p>\n
Dr Ali said he had not seen this and he agreed with Mr Nicholas that he had not looked under Fergus O\u2019Connor\u2019s shirt where Mr Nicholas alleged there were \u201cinjuries\u201d to the accused.<\/p>\n
Dr Ali also told the court that he was asked by gardai to go to the murder scene to check for signs of life in Paudie O\u2019Connor, and that when he examined the body he found no trace of life, and declared Paudie O\u2019Connor dead at the scene at 4.20am on the morning in question.<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed told the court that during searches around the house where Paudie O\u2019Connor\u2019s body was found outside, they found two knives, including one in a ditch at the rear of the house and one in a drain on the road outside the house.<\/p>\n
Garda\u00ed agreed with Mr Nicholas that the two knives appeared to have been \u201cweathered\u201d, and there a long time.<\/p>\n
The court previously heard that in the hours prior to Paudie O\u2019Connor\u2019s death, he and Fergus O\u2019Connor were drinking together in pubs following the funeral of a cousin.<\/p>\n
The court has heard that, following his arrest, Fergus O\u2019Connor told gardai that, in the run up to his brother\u2019s death, that Paudie struck him with a fist a number of times and that he retaliated by elbowing Paudie in the face.<\/p>\n
Fergus O\u2019Connor, who is represented by Mark Nicholas SC and Caroline O\u2019Connell BL, instructed by Eimear Griffin, Padraig O\u2019Connell Solicitors, Killarney, also alleged in interviews with garda\u00ed that Paudie went at him with a knife and that he took him on in self-defence.<\/p>\n
The trial continues next Monday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Victim was found drenched in blood and would have collapsed quickly, pathologist states Paudie O\u2019Connor, (42), Caisle\u00e1n M\u00f3r,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[15759,15763,9,10,18,13,14,6,19,17,15762,11,12,15,16,5,15760,7,8,15761],"class_list":{"0":"post-114424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ireland","8":"tag-namelatest-news-ticker","9":"tag-brandsindependent-ie","10":"tag-breaking-news","11":"tag-breakingnews","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-featured-news","14":"tag-featurednews","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-ie","17":"tag-ireland","18":"tag-ishiddentrue","19":"tag-latest-news","20":"tag-latestnews","21":"tag-main-news","22":"tag-mainnews","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-sluglatest-news-ticker","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-topstories","27":"tag-uuidec10736b-5a64-4120-bbf6-88154ac15f82"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}