A man accused of murdering a pensioner in her home told her daughter that either her mother or he would have to leave the house due to constant arguing between them, a court heard.<\/p>\n
Josephine “Josie” Ray, 89, of St Joseph’s Park, Nenagh, Co Tipperary, was found strangled and suffocated in her bed, on 4 August 2024, the Central Criminal Court in Limerick has heard.<\/p>\n
Hasan Ali Gori, 52, originally from Chad, Africa, and with an address at St Joseph\u2019s Park, Nenagh, has pleaded not guilty to murdering Ms Ray.<\/p>\n
At the time, Mr Ali Gori was living in Ms Ray\u2019s home, as he was in a relationship with her daughter, Mary Ray, who has an intellectual disability.<\/p>\n
Mark McGee, a neighbour of Josie and Mary Ray, told the accused\u2019s trial that he “clearly” overheard Mr Ali Gori and Mary Ray talking to one another outside Josie Ray\u2019s house the night before she died.<\/p>\n
Mr McGee told the court that Mr Ali Gori told Mary Ray that “either he had to go or Josie had to leave the house and go”.<\/p>\n
Mr McGee said Mr Ali Gori told Mary Ray that “he was sick of it” and he could not take it anymore.<\/p>\n
Mr McGee said he walked away then, because, he said, Mary Ray noticed him and “whispered” something to Mr Ali Gori.<\/p>\n
Mr McGee said that earlier that afternoon he heard shouting coming from Ms Ray\u2019s home, and he saw Mary Ray, Mr Ali Gori and Josie Ray arguing with one another outside the front of the property.<\/p>\n
Mr McGee said he heard Mary Ray accusing Mr Ali Gori of cheating on her, and Josie Ray was “banging” and “tapping” her walking stick on the ground.<\/p>\n
Mr McGee said Josie Ray told Mary Ray and the accused: “I\u2019m tired of ye”, and garda\u00ed arrived to calm the situation.<\/p>\n
Ian Donnellan, another of the victim\u2019s neighbours, gave evidence that the accused, Mary Ray and Josie Ray argued with one another “everyday”.<\/p>\n
“It was angry, volatile, everyday,” said Mr Donnellan.<\/p>\n
The witness said he contacted garda\u00ed on 21 July, 2024, about two weeks prior to Josie Ray\u2019s death, to report a row taking place at Ms Ray\u2019s home.<\/p>\n
Mr Donnellan told the court he saw Josie that day with a “red mark” on the right side of her face, and that she was “distressed and afraid”.<\/p>\n
Mr Donnellan said he contacted garda\u00ed because he was “concerned” for Josie Ray.<\/p>\n
The witness said he recorded a Snapchat video of the sounds of shouting and roaring coming from the house the day before her death, and he called garda\u00ed.<\/p>\n
Mr Donnellan said that, at this point, his wife asked the accused to stop shouting as he was “scaring” local children.<\/p>\n
The recording was played to the court in which a male voice was heard in the footage shouting “fuck off, fuck off” and the sound of a child becoming distressed.<\/p>\n
Mr Donnellan said he recognised the male voice as being the accused.<\/p>\n
Ian Donnellan\u2019s sister, Gemma Donnellan, gave evidence of being one of a group of neighbours that gathered outside Josie Ray\u2019s house after her body was discovered inside the property.<\/p>\n
Ms Donnellan told the court she asked Mary Ray what had happened “and she (Mary) said nothing really”.<\/p>\n
Ms Donnellan said that it appeared to her that Mr Ali Gori had not wanted his partner “talking to anyone” at the scene.<\/p>\n
“Mary was crying, and he (the accused) kept telling her to shut up and to calm down.”<\/p>\n
Ms Donnellan said the accused told Mary that Josie was “old and was going to die anyway” and that he “kept walking towards (Mary) to bring her away from us”.<\/p>\n
Two of Josie Ray\u2019s grandchildren, Daniel O\u2019Brien, and his sister, Rosie O\u2019Brien, each gave evidence yesterday of contacting garda\u00ed, social workers and their local council about concerns for her safety in her local authority home, prior to her death.<\/p>\n
The prosecution case, led by senior counsel Lorcan Connolly, is that Mr Ali Gori strangled and suffocated Josie Ray.<\/p>\n
Mr Connolly said DNA found by forensic investigators under Josie Ray\u2019s fingernails after her death was a match for the accused\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n
Mr Connolly said Mr Ali Gori was Mary Ray\u2019s “cohabitant for social welfare purposes” and he was “dependent on the Rays for accommodation”.<\/p>\n
Josie Ray was very protective of her daughter Mary, and she did not approve of her relationship with Mr Ali Gori, it was heard.<\/p>\n
Mr Ali Gori had “motive” and “opportunity” to murder Josie Ray, Mr Connolly argued.<\/p>\n
The trial continues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man accused of murdering a pensioner in her home told her daughter that either her mother or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662539,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-662538","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662538","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662538"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662538\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662539"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}