A murder trial will hear evidence that a bloody palm print found on the architrave of a door in a house where a 61-year-old man was found lying dead in a pool of blood matched the print of the man accused of his killing.Prosecution counsel Jane Hyland gave an outline to the jury at the Central Criminal Court in Cork on Wednesday of the evidence that they will hear in the trial of Daniel Hourigan, who has denied the murder of Michael Foley at Annville, Barrett’s Place, Macroom, Co Cork, on February 1st, 2024.Hyland told the jury of six men and six women that Foley had had some difficulties in his life previously, but he had been doing well since moving into the Macroom accommodation in 2022 provided by an agency called Housing First.She said that a psychiatric nurse, Ciara Harmon, used to call twice a week to check on his welfare. She had been due to meet him on February 1st, 2024, for an appointment at the Mercy University Hospital in Cork, but she was unable to make contact with him.The jury will hear that Harmon called to carry out a welfare check on Foley at his home at Annville at 12.50pm on February 6th. After entering the property and calling out Foley’s name, she saw him lying dead in a pool of blood on the floor in the kitchen; she left the building and rang gardaí.Gardaí could see Foley had suffered a beating and, in addition to noting significant gash-type injuries to his skull and the pool of blood surrounding Foley’s head, they also noted an arc-shaped spray of blood on the wall.The jury will also hear how gardaí began harvesting CCTV footage from around Macroom town and found CCTV footage from Annville that showed Foley passing the camera and returning home at 8.15pm on January 31st. “It is the last time that Michael Foley is seen alive,” said Hyland.Hyland said the Assistant State Pathologist, Dr Margot Bolster, carried out a postmortem and found that Foley had died a violent death, and his injuries included blows possibly from fists. He also suffered 11 stab wounds and 19 slash wounds and died due to haemorrhage, or blood loss.Hyland told the jury they would also hear that gardaí harvested other CCTV footage which showed the accused, Hourigan, who knew Foley and had stayed before with him at Annville, passing by the camera near Foley’s house with a female companion, Linda O’Flynn, at 8.19pm on January 31st, 2023.[ Cork murder trial jury discharged following legal argumentOpens in new window ]O’Flynn was later seen leaving Foley’s house at 11.08am on February 1st, while Hourigan passed by some 90 seconds later. They are both seen carrying bags and Hourigan is also seen carrying a black plastic bag which it transpires has a knife in it; Foley’s blood was later found on the knife.The jury will hear that Hourigan and O’Flynn travelled back to Cork by bus and got off on Western Road but left the black plastic bag on the bus. The bus went from Cork to Kerry, where the bag was put in a bin; where gardaí later recovered it and the knife.Hyland said that a woman who was a platonic friend of the deceased, Neringa Stalioniene, was in his flat on the night of January 31st and left at 7.30am the following day, but returned at about 12.30pm that afternoon.“She heard but did not see Mr Foley like he was very, very drunk or had something in his throat saying to leave. Mr Foley is never seen again from that time. He never again leaves that house,” the counsel told the jury.Hyland said that the jury would hear that Garda technical experts found a palm print in blood on the architrave of a door in Foley’s house. When it was examined by forensic scientists it was found the palm print matched that of Hourigan and the blood was that of Foley. The jury would also hear that Hourigan was later interviewed by gardaí in which he said he had not been in Macroom since June 2023 and had not spoken to Foley since December that year. His position changed when he was shown the CCTV footage, said Hyland. The case continues.