The jury in the trial of a 35-year-old man accused of murdering Waterford woman Gillian Curran 18 months ago is due to begin its deliberations.
Ms Curran, who was 47 and originally from Sweetbriar in Tramore, was found unresponsive at her partner’s house on the morning of 25 January 2025 and pronounced dead a short time later.
Marcus O’Neill has denied murdering Ms Curran at his home on O’Brien Street in Waterford city.
The trial before a jury of five men and seven women first opened before the Central Criminal Court in Waterford on 9 July.
The trial previously heard Mr O’Neill had told the emergency services that the couple had been drinking on the night in question and Ms Curran had fallen several times before falling down the stairs, where he said he found her the following morning.
At the outset of the trial, Senior Counsel for the prosecution Conor O’Doherty said the issue for the jury would be to decide how Ms Curran’s injuries were sustained.
He said the jury would have to decide whether these injuries occurred by accident as outlined by Mr O’Neill to gardaí, or whether they were the result of a violent assault as per what the State had contended.
Marcus O’Neill has denied murdering Ms Curran at his home on O’Brien Street in Waterford city
Mr O’Doherty told the court that Mr O’Neill had been in a relationship with Ms Curran, who he said had struggled with alcohol addiction throughout her life.
He said while Ms Curran did not permanently live with Mr O’Neill at his home on O’Brien Street, she stayed there on occasion – as was the case on the night of 24 January 2025.
A recording of the 999 telephone call made by the accused to gardaí was previously played for the jury.
Mr O’Neill told of finding Ms Curran on the floor and said that he could hear a heartbeat.
During the call, he also said that her breathing was not normal and she was not responding.
State Pathologist Dr Heidi Okkers previously gave evidence that Ms Curran’s death was the result of blunt force traumatic injuries to her head and abdomen.
Dr Okkers, who carried out a post-mortem examination on Ms Curran’s body on 26 January 2025, said she found 143 external bruise and abrasion injuries, as well as more than 20 internal injuries.
Further specialist examination by neuropathologist Dr Francesca Brett had confirmed Ms Curran suffered injuries that resulted from the brain moving within the skull.
During the cross-examination of Dr Okkers’ evidence, Róisín Lacey, Senior Counsel for the defence, outlined Mr O’Neill’s account to gardaí of what happened to his partner after she consumed vodka at his home that evening.
She said Mr O’Neill told gardaí that Ms Curran had fallen straight onto the kitchen table and banged her face and the same thing happened again before he brought her upstairs.
The court was told Ms Curran fell again going up the stairs and then fell a fourth time after Mr O’Neill put her to bed and that he did not know what happened her after that.
Ms Lacey said that Mr O’Neill woke up the following morning and found Ms Curran naked at the bottom of the stairs, so he brought her across the dining room to a couch where he dressed her before ringing the emergency services.
Ms Justice Caroline Biggs finished charging the jury after outlining a summary of the evidence heard during the over two-week trial.
The judge said that she hoped the jury would be in a position to begin their deliberations when they return to Waterford Courthouse tomorrow morning.