By Alison O’Riordan
A teenager broke down today as he told the trial of a man accused of murdering his mother of the moment he found her dead in her bedroom.
"I could see she was not breathing. I could see her cheek was puffy and she was cold. I knew that I was not going to see her again," Denis Carroll told the murder trial at the Central Criminal Court this morning.
Amanda Carroll's body was discovered in the bedroom of her apartment over two years ago by her then 16-year-old son Denis Carroll who had left the house that morning to play football not knowing that his mother was dead.
Sean Nolan (36), with an address at Ashington Crescent, Navan Road in Dublin has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his partner Ms Carroll (33) at Homestead Court, Quarry Road, Cabra, Dublin 7 on October 21st, 2018.
Denis Carroll (18) told prosecution counsel Shane Costelloe SC today that his mother had been in a long-term relationship with another man until May 2018 and she started going out with the accused shortly afterwards. Ms Carroll had met Mr Nolan on the dating app Tinder, he said.
Binge drinking
Denis testified that he had met Mr Nolan a few times when he was in their apartment and agreed with counsel that there would have been times where his mother and the accused would have drank too much. "They had a problem binge drinking," he added.
Denis told Mr Costelloe that he remembered one occasion where his mother and the accused had an argument about her ex-boyfriend, who was the father of Ms Carroll's youngest child. The witness said Mr Nolan had acted aggressively during this particular argument and indicated that he was going to hurt himself. Denis said he stepped in between his mother and the accused as he wanted to defend her. He agreed that he saw Mr Nolan "kick out" at Ms Carroll and the accused then left the apartment. The witness further agreed that his mother had chased after Mr Nolan to come back, which he did, and the witness said the next morning it was "like nothing had happened" between the pair. Denis said his mother had gotten a tattoo of the accused's name and he also got one with her name.
Two weeks before his mother's death, Denis testified that he came home to find his mother and the accused drunk but in good form. The witness said Mr Nolan was expressing his love for his mother but then he made reference to Ms Carroll's ex-partner and started to "flip-out". A verbal argument ensued between the pair and they were both calling each other names, he said. The accused man said he was going to pack his bags and leave the apartment but Ms Carroll tried to get him to stay, said Denis. Following this, the witness said his mother was looking to get a set of keys back off Mr Nolan but he wouldn't give them back and aggressively pushed his mother out of the car. "I was angry and I took the keys out of the ignition and told him I would give him a hiding if he did anything like that again," he explained, adding that Mr Nolan then said he was sorry.
No response
The witness agreed with Mr Costelloe that the last time he saw his mother alive was when she went to the pub with Mr Nolan around 7pm on Saturday October 20th. Denis said he was asleep in his bedroom with his girlfriend around 1am that morning when he heard his mother and the accused come into the apartment. "I could hear mum's high heels. I heard a loud bang but I didn't think anything of it and went back to sleep," he noted.
Denis agreed with the barrister that he was a talented soccer player and played for Bohemians. The witness said he was getting ready in the apartment for a football match around 9.30am on October 21st but did not go into his mother's room as he thought she was asleep. When he was leaving the building, Denis said he found his mother's brown handbag on the ground floor and brought it back upstairs.
When he returned to the apartment at 3.15pm, Denis testified that his girlfriend was there and she told him that Ms Carroll was still not awake. "I went to check on her. I called on her and she was not being responsive. As I was going into the bedroom I could see she was not breathing. I could see her cheek was puffy and she was cold. I just seen she was dead [sic]," he said.
The witness began to sob as he told the jury that he remembered "breaking down" and smashing his iPhone off the wall and "going crazy". "I knew that I was not going to see her again," he said.
In cross-examination, Denis agreed with defence counsel Michael O'Higgins SC that he had felt sorry for the accused two weeks before his mother had died as he knew his mother had been with her previous partner.
Body found
Dr Gerard Bury said he arrived at Ms Carroll's apartment on October 21st and found her lying on her back in her bed. The witness said he removed a duvet cover to examine the mother-of-two and noticed injuries to her face, neck and left upper shoulder. There was bruising on both sides of her neck, forehead and left upper shoulder as well as grazes on her face, he said. No resuscitation measures were undertaken on the deceased as there were obvious signs of death, he concluded.
Neighbour John Daly testified that he had a drink with Ms Carroll and the accused in her apartment around seven weeks before she died. At one stage, Ms Carroll left the room and he and Mr Nolan continued to chat about going fishing, he said. However, the witness said that when Ms Carroll came back into the room an argument began as she thought they were talking about her. The mother-of-two began to hit Mr Nolan in the face with a set of car keys and told him to get out of the apartment, he said. On another occasion, Mr Daly said that Ms Carroll got very upset "out of the blue" and started hitting the accused around the head. The witness said that Mr Nolan kept repeating: "I love you. I would do anything for you". The pair then kissed and made up, said Mr Daly, adding that alcohol did not agree with the deceased and she was a lovely lady when she didn't drink.
Under cross-examination, Mr Daly agreed with Mr O'Higgins that one moment the pair were "loved up" and another moment they were shouting and roaring.
'Volatile' relationship
Opening the trial prosecution counsel Mr Costelloe said that Mr Nolan's plea means he accepts he killed Ms Carroll. However, counsel said the prosecution case is that when Mr Nolan "put his hands on the throat and mouth of the deceased" he intended to kill or cause serious injury and is therefore guilty of murder rather than manslaughter.
Outlining the case Mr Costelloe said the deceased began a relationship with the accused about four months before her death. They had a "volatile" relationship, he said, "that seems to have arisen with excessive consumption of alcohol."
The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Michael MacGrath and a jury of six men and six women. It is expected to last up to three weeks.
