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Leon Farrell/Photocall Ireland
dr marie cassidy
State Pathologist says she was surprised by Graham Dwyer guilty verdict
“We knew there was no pathology evidence to support anything, so it came down to what other evidence did they have.”
DR MARIE CASSIDY, the State Pathologist, has said she was surprised by the ‘guilty’ verdict delivered in the Graham Dwyer murder trial.
Speaking at an event at University Hospital Limerick, she said she hadn’t expected the trial to proceed, due to a lack of pathological evidence.
“We knew there was no pathology evidence to support anything, so it came down to what other evidence did they have,” Cassidy said.
“It’s up to them to make a case and to present this case, and if they think the case is going to stand up in court, the DPP will go ahead with it.
“In that case I thought ‘no, they’ll not go ahead with it’,” she explained.
On the day of the verdict, in March, she said she had been expecting the jury to reach the opposite verdict.
We were waiting for the verdict coming in, and we were sitting outside [saying] ‘ah it will be not guilty, has to be not guilty’.
Dwyer was sentenced to life in prison on 20 April, with Justice Tony Hunt saying it was a punishment he “richly deserves”.
The Foxrock architect was found guilty on 27 March of the murder of Elaine O’Hara, who was last seen on 22 August 2012. Her remains were found on Killakee mountain a year later.
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