A CONSTRUCTION WORKER found in a Dublin suburban park died from extensive blunt force trauma, with multiple fractures and bruising to his lungs and the outer surface of the heart, a murder trial has heard.

The jury also heard that the infliction of blunt force trauma suggested that there had been multiple blows of a fist, kicks and “stamping-type” injuries to the deceased’s body, while some of the injuries were inflicted when the deceased was “curled up and lying down”.

Assistant State Pathologist Dr Margaret Bolster gave evidence today in the Central Criminal Court trial of Feri Anghel (40), who is charged with murdering Romanian national Ioan Artene Bob (49) at a location in Co. Dublin on 13 April, 2018.

Anghel, of no fixed abode, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Bob.

Opening the trial yesterday, Paul Greene SC said that Ioan Artene Bob was found “in physical distress” by passersby in Sean Walsh Park in Tallaght after being seriously assaulted and sustaining “extensive blunt force trauma”.

Dr Bolster told Greene today that she conducted a post mortem on Bob on the morning of 14 April in Dublin City Mortuary. She said the deceased was dressed in a hospital gown, which was heavily blood-stained on the right side.

Dr Bolster said there was extensive soft tissue damage to the body which occurs when one has multiple fractures of the ribs and air gets into the soft tissue. She said the deceased’s hands were “those of a labourer”.

In her evidence, the witness said there was blunt force trauma to the forehead as well as swelling and bruising around the left eye and left earlobe.

“There was extensive bruising extending to the tip of the nose and a fracture of the nasal bone,” she added.

There was also bruising around the right eye extending to the right eyebrow and right temporal region and over the right cheek. Furthermore, there was bruising and swelling to the upper lip, which extended into the inside of the mouth, said the pathologist.

Dr Bolster pointed out that the bruising extended over the lower jaw bone and Adam’s apple and onto the collar bone. There was very extensive bruising around the neck and blunt force trauma extending down the left side of the neck, she said, adding that the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage were also fractured.

The jury also heard that there was swelling at the back of the scalp and a “slightly jagged partial thickness” laceration to the right side. There were bruises to the right upper arm, above the right elbow joint and the back of the right elbow.

Dr Bolster said there were fractures to the ribs and very extensive bruising across the chest, over the back and down into the pelvis.

Referring to the heart, the expert witness said there was haemorrhage or bleeding to the front part of the chest and the front wall of the pericardial sac. There was haemorrhage in both lungs and there had been “an almost total collapse” of both lungs. She said there were multiple fractures of the ribs, which ran down the back and were close to the back bone.

There had been “global brain damage” to the deceased due to not enough oxygen getting to the brain as a result of the heart stopping.

A toxicology report showed that the blood ethanol was 166 milligrams, which roughly equates to between four and five pints of beer.

In summary, Dr Bolster said there was very extensive blunt force trauma with very extensive bruising to the scalp and neck as well as fractures to the hyoid bone and thyroid cartilage.

There was also very extensive bruising over the thorax and lower jaw bone as well as multiple fractures of the ribs, bruising to the lungs and on the outer surface of the heart. She said there were also kicking and stamping injuries to the face and neck.

Dr Bolster said the deceased’s cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head, neck and trunk body with extensive soft tissue haemorrhage, multiple fractures of the ribs, mandible and larynx, bilateral pneumothoraces and pulmonary haemorrhage and cardiac contusions.

When asked by Greene about the infliction of blunt force trauma to the deceased, the witness said this suggested that there had been multiple blows of a fist, kicks and “stamping-type” injuries.

Under cross-examination, Dr Bolster told defence counsel Padraig Dwyer SC that the main area of injury was from the waist up and that the injuries were inflicted from different directions. “Some of the injuries were inflicted when the person was curled up and lying down,” she noted.

Paramedic Tony Donnelly, who works with the National Ambulance Service, said he received a phone call to go to Sean Walsh Park before 8am on the morning of 13 April.

He said he was directed to where a man was lying “face up” in the bushes with his head close to the edge of the ditch. “He stood up and was starting to walk away and trying to say something but we couldn’t understand,” he said, adding that the man then walked towards the ambulance.

Donnelly said he drove the man “who was in distress” to Tallaght Hospital and he lost consciousness when they arrived at the Accident and Emergency Department.

The witness said that the man started breathing as his pulse was being taken. “He displayed symptoms of cardiac arrest in the hospital and we handed him over to the medics,” he said.

Donnelly said he had noted how swollen the man’s face was “around his eyes” and he was badly bruised. There was also “a trickle of bright red blood” coming from nose, he concluded.

The trial continues before Justice Eileen Creedon and a jury of eight men and four women next Thursday. It is expected to last five weeks.

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