AN ELDERLY WOMAN has given evidence at a murder trial of praying over her 80-year-old husband when she found him unconscious and bloodied on the ground after he went out to the garage of their home to investigate a noise.

Sean Harding of Marian Terrace, Tipperary town, is on trial at a sitting of the Central Criminal Court in Cork charged with the murder of Timothy (Teddy) Murnane.

The 32-year-old denies murder but has pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Murnane at his home in St Michael’s Avenue, Tipperary town on 12 September 2025.

Today on day two of the trial pensioner Margaret Murnane said she was with her husband in the sitting room of their home sometime after 9pm on 12 September 2025 when Teddy mentioned that he had heard a noise. He stated that he planned to go out and investigate it.

Mrs Murnane said that several minutes went by, and she decided to go out and check on Teddy. She told the jury that when she went out the back of the house she found him lying near the pedestrian entranceway at the side of the garage.

“It was dark – I nearly fell over him – I looked down and he was lying on the ground, with his legs near the garage door – when I saw him on the ground, I said, ‘What happened, why are you down there, why are you lying on the ground?’ but I got no response whatsoever,” said Margaret Murnane.

“There was blood at the back of his head and blood (coming) out of his mouth – I was trying to put my husband on his side, to do something for him, I was trying to hold him – but he was just lying there, there was no response whatsoever.”

Mrs Murnane phoned her son Patrick to tell him that Teddy had suffered a fall. However, when she was on the phone to her son she spotted that the side door to the garage was open. She also noticed that the light was on in the garage and that there was a black bag on the floor that she hadn’t seen previously.

Patrick Murnane rushed to the home of his parents. He contacted the emergency services. Mrs Murnane said that it “felt like forever” waiting for the ambulance. She stifled tears as she spoke of saying prayers for her husband in the time before the ambulance arrived.

Patrick Murnane stated that when he got to the family home he found his mother bent over his father who was unconscious on the ground

“I went over immediately and his breathing was very laboured – I spoke to him in a loud voice to try and make contact, but there was no response – he was bleeding from the head and at the time I presumed he had fallen,” he said.

Mr Murnane said that he began to form the thought that a burglary might have occurred after he spotted the side garage door was open. He also saw tools and a black holdall on the ground.

Garda Colin Hanley told the jury that both he and Sgt Chris McGrath arrived on the scene at 10.30pm on 12 September 2025.

Garda Hanley noted that there was a black holdall bag on the floor to the left of the garage door. Some tools were also on the floor.

Gardaí cordoned off the area which was declared a crime scene. Gardaí subsequently harvested CCTV footage from a householder in Marian Terrace.

It showed a man, later identified as Harding, walking in the direction of the Murnane Home carrying a black bag at 9.34pm on 12 September 2025.

He was also captured on CCTV running back two minutes later without the holdall.

When the 32-year-old was arraigned on Wednesday he pleaded guilty to three burglary charges.

These included two burglaries at the home of the late Teddy Murnane on the 11th and 12 September in 2025 and a third unrelated burglary on the same evening.

He also stated that he was not guilty of the murder but guilty of the manslaughter of the 80-year-old.

The case will continue on Friday in front of the jury and Ms Justice Siobhan Lankford. It is expected to finish “well in advance” of mid-November.

Mr Murnane was a retired bus driver with Kavanagh Coaches. He was laid to rest at St Michael’s cemetery in Tipperary town following a requiem mass at St Michael’s Church.

He is survived by his wife, two sons and a doctor, grandchildren, extended family and friends.