Witness heard another man swearing in Cork murder victim's home, trial hears

Olivia Kelleher

A woman who was staying in the home of a 61-year-old man who was found dead in a pool of blood told gardaí that she heard another man swearing in the property on the day he was last seen alive.

Daniel Hourigan (33) who is originally from Farranree in Cork is on trial at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in the city, charged with the murder of Michael Foley.

Foley had experienced homelessness and was living in a Housing First property at Annville, Barrett’s Place in Macroom, Co Cork.

He was found dead in his home by a care worker on February 6th, 2024.

The statements Neringa Stalioniene made to gardaí were read into evidence on Wednesday.

Stalioniene told gardaí that she first met her friend Michael Foley in November 2022 at the Simon Community in Cork.

She subsequently bumped into him at the bus station in the city.

It was a “freezing cold” night, and Foley offered to allow her to sleep in a small room at his property.

Stalioniene said that Foley was her father’s age and the relationship between them was completely platonic in nature. She said that Foley “drank a lot.”

When he drank heavily, he would tell her to leave the house. She stayed overnight in the property at various intervals from 2022 to 2024 as she had obtained a job in Macroom.

The State case is that Foley was murdered on February 1st, 2024. Stalioniene said in her Garda statements that she didn’t notice anything unusual at the home of Foley when she stayed there on the night of January 31st, 2024 in to the morning of February 1st, 2024.

She saw Foley at about 7.30am on the morning of February 1st in the house. He looked “normal” and did not have any blood on his person.

Stalioniene was standing in the bathroom door and he told her “to get out.”

She said when Foley asked her to leave she heard the voice of another man in the house saying “f**k, f**k.”

She returned to the property at lunchtime that day and knocked on the door. There wasn’t any answer. The door was unlocked and Stalioniene opened it. She didn’t step inside.

However, she said that Foley again shouted at her to get out of his house,

“He sounded very drunk. It sounded like there was something in his throat. I didn’t see him. I didn’t hear anybody else. There was a TV on in the background. I closed the door and left.”

She said that Foley brought drug users into his house even though “he didn’t take drugs himself.”

Stalioniene said that Foley “never did anything bad." She expressed the hope that a person would appear in court in connection with his death.

She said that she had tried to speak to Foley by phone in the first week of February 2024, but she never received an answer. She was subsequently informed of his death.

Meanwhile, the jury of six men and six women has heard that 5,000 hours of CCTV was harvested from cameras in the Macroom area as part of the murder probe.

Investigating gardaí worked backwards from February 6th, 2024. They determined that Foley was last seen on CCTV in Macroom on January 31st, 2024.

On Monday of this week, Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margot Bolster gave evidence in relation to the postmortem she carried out on the deceased.

She said that Foley had 30 incision wounds, which comprised of 11 stab wounds and 19 slash wounds.

He also suffered 23 blunt force trauma injuries. The cause of death was haemorrhage and shock due to stab and slash wounds.

The case continues.