A TRIAL OF a man accused of killing a Tipperary grandmother heard how he told gardaí that he believed he was going to be murdered.

Evidence of the garda interviews with the accused at Nenagh Garda Station were heard at the man’s trial at the Central Criminal Court, in Limerick, Monday.

The accused, Hasan Ali Gori (52), a native of Chad, in Africa, denies a charge that he murdered 89-year-old Josephine “Josie” Ray, at her home in Nenagh, on 4 August 2024.

Ray was found strangled and smothered and with 44 bruises to her head and body, in her bed, the trial has heard.

Gori had previously moved into Josie Ray’s house while he was in a relationship with her daughter Mary, who it was heard has an intellectual disability and is regarded as a “vulnerable” person.

Several witnesses, including members of Josie and Mary Ray’s family, have given evidence that the mother and daughter and Gori were constantly “fighting” with one another, and their arguments were often “volatile”.

Josie Ray had been heard calling Gori a “black bastard” and she had hit him with a poker, two of her daughters told the court.

Gardaí put it to the accused that Josie Ray and Mary Ray had “wanted you out” of their Council-owned home.

Gori told gardaí: “They have a plan to murder me but they’ll never succeed, I trust my God.”

Gori maintained in his interviews with gardaí that he had “nothing” to do with Josie Ray’s death.

When gardaí put it to Gori that, although he and Mary Ray and her son Samuel were in the house when Josie Ray’s body was found, his DNA was the only other human DNA found on forensic samples taken from Ray’s remains.

Gori told gardaí that Josie Ray would sometimes “catch my hand” when asking him to go to the shops for her.

The accused also said that he and Josie Ray used the same entrance gate to her house, and they both used “the same cooker” and “same kettle” in her home.

A forensic scientist has told the court that, generally speaking, human DNA can be transferred from one person to another in a shared accommodation environment without the two people ever having touched one another.

The court heard that Mary Ray had added Gori to a disability allowance she was receiving from the Department of Social Welfare, that resulted in her earning an extra weekly payment of €154. She also received a cheque from the department for almost €5,000 in arrears, it was heard.

The court heard all the payments were made out to Mary Ray, and, that she would not have received the extra weekly income had Gori, who had no income at the time, not have been permitted to co-habit with her.

The court previously heard that Josie and Mary Ray were longstanding tenants of Tipperary County Council, and that under the terms of Josie’s tenancy, no other person was permitted to live with them at the local authority property.

The prosecution, led by senior counsel Lorcan Connolly, instructed by David Humphries BL, said Gori went on a “rant” during one of his interviews with gardaí after one of them put it to him in one of their interviews, “now your life has fallen apart, you are living in Limerick in a tent with the rats”.

Gardaí suggested to Gori: “You thought by murdering Josie, that you’d have the house.”

The accused replied: “I know nothing.”

Gardaí were called to a report of a row at Josie Ray’s house on the night before she was found dead.

A neighbour told the court she overheard Gori telling Mary Ray, “I don’t want to live with your mother, I want to live there just ourselves.”

Gori told gardaí he is an “innocent man” and that the accusation of murder against him is a “false” one.

The trial which started two weeks ago is due to finish later this week.