Northern Ireland

Witness recalls seeing blood on accused Raymond O'Neill’s hand

Jennifer Dornan was murdered in August 2015
Jennifer Dornan was murdered in August 2015 Jennifer Dornan was murdered in August 2015

A FRIEND of murder suspect Raymond O'Neill recalled how he saw blood on the hand of the accused following an early-morning meeting in an alleyway.

The west Belfast man told Belfast Crown Court that in 2015 he and O'Neill regularly drank and took drugs together.

O'Neill (43) is accused of murdering Jennifer Dornan (30) in her Hazel View home in the early hours of August 2 2015.

The accused - who was 37 at the time and from the Amcomri Street area of the city - has denied charges of murder and arson.

He revealed that after spending the evening of August 1 drinking at his friend Eileen's home in Laurelbank, he bumped into O'Neill in an alleyway as he made his way to his mother's Woodside View home.

The witness, who described himself as an alcoholic, said this meeting occurred at around 4.45am on August 2 2015.

When asked by Crown barrister Michael Chambers about the meeting, the witness said O'Neill was "soaking" as it was "lashing with rain."

He said: "Raymond said I was a hard man to find and I burst out laughing. He asked me to get him a taxi, but I didn't have any credit on my phone so I brought him back to Eileen's.

"We got in, I asked Eileen to call Raymond a taxi and we had a tin of beer. He then asked me for clothes. I thought it was because he was soaking wet.

"He asked me for my jumper and jeans and stuff. I told him they wouldn't fit, but I gave him my Barcelona top."

The man said that after being handed the football top, O'Neill removed the grey t-shirt he was wearing and wrapped it around his hand.

The witness continued: "I can't remember whether it was his left hand or his right hand but he wrapped it round and round one of his hands.

"I thought it was strange why he was wrapping it around his hand, instead of giving it to me to put in the wash."

When the man was asked by Mr Chambers if he noticed anything about O'Neill's hand, the witness replied: "Yeah, one of his hands was covered in blood".

He said after handing Eileen a set of Rosary Beads, O'Neill left in a taxi and said he was going to get more drink.

The witness said he waited in Eileen's house for around 45 minutes for O'Neill to return with alcohol - and when this didn't happen he left and started walking home.

He said when he arrived home, "a red car pulled up and Raymond was in the passenger's seat".

He said they both went inside and later "Raymond was lying on my Mum's sofa, sleeping".

The man's mother also gave evidence and confirmed O'Neill was in her house and wearing her pink housecoat.

"Raymond had been sleeping on the settee, and when I went to open the blinds he sat up and started rocking from side to side," she said.

She added: "He seemed disturbed. I said to him 'are you okay?' and he said it was the first drink he'd had in 10 years and he wasn't allowed to see his kids."

The woman said that whilst her son slept upstairs, O'Neill left around 2pm, but returned around 5pm.

She said her son and O'Neill left to get more drink and the last time she saw O'Neill was when he returned on the morning of August 3 before leaving a short time later carrying a rucksack full of clothes.

It is the Crown's case that O'Neill left Belfast on the evening of August 3 and travelled to the Republic before being arrested in Co Donegal on August 7 2015.

The trial continues.