GRAHAM DWYER MURDER TRIAL – A SUMMARY
A jury at the Central Criminal Court has been sent away to consider whether Graham Dwyer (42) is guilty of murdering Elaine O’Hara in the Dublin Mountains on August 22nd 2012.
SO WHAT’S THE ALLEGATION THEY WILL HAVE TO CONSIDER?
The prosecution alleges Graham Dwyer and Elaine O’Hara were in a BDSM relationship and that the Foxrock architect murdered her in a wooded area on Killakee Mountain in Rathfarnham to satisfy a “deep seated and passionately held desire” to stab a woman to death.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT GRAHAM DWYER?
Graham Dwyer is originally from Bandon, Co. Cork but he moved to Dublin in the early 1990s to study architecture at DIT Bolton Street. While in college, he began dating Emer McShea who gave birth to their son Senan in 1992. She gave evidence on Day 22 of the trial. During their relationship, she said Graham told her about his fantasy to stab a woman while having sex. Not long after sharing this with her, she said he started bringing a kitchen knife into their bedroom and would pretend to stab her during sex. He also met his future wife Gemma during his college years. She was studying architecture too and they started dating in 1997. They bought a cottage in Rathmines in 2000 and moved to a bigger house at Kerrymount Close in Foxrock in 2007. Gemma gave birth to their son a year later and their daughter was born in 2011.
Graham Dwyer has a huge interest in model aeroplanes. He started flying in the Phoenix Park before he joined a club in Shankill. He was invited to join another club in Roundwood, Co. Wicklow and he was also a member of a club in Co. Laois. He is interested in music and used to play in a rock band. His family gave him a guitar for his 40th birthday in 2012. Depeche Mode and U2 are some of his favourite bands. He is a keen cyclist and would sometimes cycle to his office at A&D Wejchert on Lower Baggot Street from his home in Foxrock. He loves cars too. His wife told his trial that he owned a Porsche 911 and called it his “baby”.
On a professional front, he started at A&D Wejchert in 2001. A colleague of his described him as particularly skilled in 3D visualisations and artist impressions of projects/presentations. He became a partner at the firm during his 12 years there and worked on significant projects.
WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED ABOUT ELAINE?
Elaine O’Hara (36) went to school in Ballybrack and Killiney and experienced some difficulties in her teenage years. Her father Frank O’Hara said she was bullied in school. A close friend of hers died in a car crash when she was 14 or 15 and her father said he noticed a change in her behaviour. She tried to cut her wrists when she was 16 and her parents referred to a psychiatrist. The death of her mother in 2002 affected her greatly and she was admitted to a psychiatric unit 14 times over the years. She was diagnosed as suffering from recurring depression and had anxiety issues and a borderline personality disorder. She had a history of self-harm and almost died from an overdose of medication twice between 2005 and 2007. From as young as 12, a play about being restrained or imprisoned played over and over in her head. She would later develop a fetish for bondage and used to particularly enjoy being chained up. Her father criticised the medical treatment she received during her teen years. He felt she was on far too much medication and lost out on those years as a result. She was close to her younger sister Ann but they grew apart as they got older. Ann described Elaine as an immature person who never really grew up and was naive and very trusting of people. Despite all her difficulties, she was extremely hard working. At the time of her disappearance, she was studying Montessori and working at a local crèche while also working part time at Ken’s newsagents in Blackrock. She was also due to begin volunteering with the Tall Ships festival the day after she went missing.
HOW DID GRAHAM AND ELAINE MEET?
Graham Dwyer admitted being in a sexual relationship with Elaine O’Hara during his fourth Garda interview in October 2013. He said they met through BDSM sex dating website ALT.COM several years beforehand. The prosecution believes they parted company in 2008 before Mr. Dwyer got back in touch in March 2011. It’s alleged he did so using an 083 prepaid phone that has never been recovered. The prosecution believes Mr. Dwyer bought two NOKIA mobile phones in November 2011 to communicate with Elaine as part of their BDSM relationship. These phones were dubbed the SLAVE and MASTER phones.
WHY ARE THEY CALLED THE MASTER AND SLAVE PHONES?
The phones were found by Garda divers at the Vartry reservoir in October 2013. The divers were called in after various items including a Dunnes Stores loyalty card registered to Elaine O’Hara were found the previous month. Both phones had the other’s number in its contact list. One was saved as MSTR while the other was listed as SLV. The prosecution believes these phones were almost exclusively used by Graham Dwyer and Elaine O’Hara to contact each other from the date of their purchase towards the end of November 2011 to the date of Elaine’s disappearance.
HOW DID ELAINE DIE?
We don’t know. Only 65% of her skeleton was recovered at Killakee Mountain and the Deputy State Pathologist wasn’t able to determine an exact cause of death without her skull and the other missing bones. The prosecution believes Mr. Dwyer stabbed her to death to satisfy a “deep seated and passionately held sexual desire”. They have pointed to previous evidence about Mr. Dwyer’s fantasy to stab a woman during sex and the jurors were shown video clips of him doing just that to the childcare worker. Extensive text messaging between Elaine and a man whom the prosecution believes is Mr. Dwyer also talks at length about a desire to stab. One text sent in Apr 2011 says “my urge to rape, stab and kill is huge. You have to help me control or satisfy it”. The defence says there are strong indications of suicide and has pointed to the lack of forensic evidence supporting the prosecution’s claim that Mr. Dwyer stabbed her to death.
SO GRAHAM DWYER’S SEX TAPES WERE SHOWN TO THE JURY!?
Yes. Eleven short video clips recovered from a damaged hard drive belonging to Graham Dwyer were shown on Day 33 of the trial. Members of the public were not allowed to remain in the court room while they were shown. The first video shows a topless Graham Dwyer with a knife in his hand. He appears to plunge it into his chest. It is later revealed that the knife was fake and the blood seen in the clip was actually tomato ketchup. The accused awakes after drugging himself with Chloroform in the second video. He speaks to the camera directly in this clip and describes how he feels. The remaining nine videos show Graham Dwyer stabbing women during sex. Elaine O’Hara appears in some of the videos. The identities of two other women were protected but the defence described them as “willing participants” who came back for more.
WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT THE DAY ELAINE WENT MISSING?
The last reported sighting of Elaine O’Hara was near a railway footbridge at Shanganagh Park at around 5.45pm on Aug 22 2012. A jogger said she asked him for directions to the bridge while he was out for a run. He described her as “distant” and said she didn’t even thank him when he showed her where to go. She had been discharged from St. Edmundsbury Hospital in Lucan earlier that day and arrived at her father’s house in Killiney at around 1.30pm. They had something to eat and went to a DIY store to get a plant for her mother’s grave at Shanganagh Cemetery. Her father was looking after his granddaughter that day and she went with them. They spent half an hour at her mother’s graveside. Afterwards, they returned to her father’s house where they had some ice-cream before Elaine took her niece across the road to a green where they played for 15 minutes. Elaine left at around 4.15pm. She said she needed to get some rest because she was volunteering with the Tall Ships festival the following day. Her father said she was “always a bit nervous” going into new situations like that. CCTV footage from the car park at Elaine’s apartment complex in Stepaside shows her getting into her car just after 5pm and driving away. The defence called a witness during its evidence on Day 41 of the trial who claims she saw a woman fitting Elaine’s description face down near some graves at Shanganagh Cemetery just after 5pm that day. She said she was very upset and crying loudly.
WHY DID SHE RETURN TO SHANGANAGH?
In the lead up to Elaine’s death, there was significant contact between the MASTER and SLAVE phones. A few days beforehand, the MASTER tells the SLAVE that she is in for a “big punishment” for trying to kill herself without him. Elaine was in a psychiatric unit after admitting herself over a month beforehand. The texts spoke about getting “knifed in the guts” and being “bound and gagged and tied to a tree”. The prosecution believes Graham Dwyer was operating the MASTER phone and the SLAVE phone was in the hands of Elaine O’Hara during this time. The following text conversation began shortly after Elaine was discharged on August 22 2012.
SLAVE: I’m out.
MASTER: Well done. I’m delighted. Take a bath and don’t wear any underwear. Wear loose clothes and footwear for mud. Take a painkiller at 5pm.
SLAVE: Can I do what I want until needed?
MASTER: Sure. Enjoy your freedom. You’ll be in a lot of pain later.
SLAVE: Please don’t make it really sore.
MASTER: These stab wounds will bleed. Park at Shanganagh Cemetery. Leave your iPhone at home. Just bring SLAVE phone and keys. Don’t be nervous. Enjoy being told what to do. Just empty yourself and become nothing. You are slave meat. Your job is to serve.
SLAVE: Here sir
MASTER: OK make your way on foot to park. Bring only keys and SLAVE phone. Text when you’re in the middle. Cross railway bridge into next park near cliffs.
SLAVE: I’m lost
MASTER: Look for railway footbridge
SLAVE: OK. Here – where’s park?
MASTER: Cross bridge and head for steps to sea. Go down to shore and wait
WHAT IS MR. DWYER’S DEFENCE?
Graham Dwyer is presumed innocent until proven otherwise. A lot was made of the fact his defence only called three witnesses but it is up to the prosecution to prove guilt and not for an accused person to prove their innocence. Besides, his defence barrister Mr. Remy Farrell SC and the other members of his legal team thoroughly cross-examined prosecution witnesses throughout the trial so it’s misleading to point to a 27 minute defence on Day 39. The defence has described the prosecution’s allegations as an “elaborate theory not based on evidence”. They have also criticised aspects of the Garda investigation into both Elaine’s disappearance and her alleged murder. In his closing address, Mr. Farrell SC accused Gardai of jettisoning evidence that doesn’t fit the picture they are trying to paint. He specifically said they ignored or dismissed anything suggesting Elaine O’Hara died by suicide.
WHAT’S THE JURY’S JOB NOW?
The jury will be given all the exhibits and witness statements used during the course of the trial. They will have to decide whether Graham Dwyer was the secret texter who used the 083 and MASTER phones to contact her throughout 2011/12. If the prosecution hasn’t proved that to them “beyond a reasonable doubt,” then they should not go any further in their deliberations and they must find him not guilty. If they are satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that it was him, then they must consider whether he planned and intended to kill her and if he stabbed her to death. They will also have to be satisfied there isn’t any other explanation for her death including the involvement of someone else and death by suicide. They have been asked to leave aside their personal feelings towards the accused and try the case on the facts alone by looking at each piece of evidence from every possible point of view. Mr. Dwyer must be given the benefit of the doubt if the standard of proof hasn’t been reached by the prosecution.
