Architect Graham Dwyer took a childminder up the Dublin Mountains to stab her to death to fulfil his sexual gratification, a court was told.

Dwyer, a father-of-two of Kerrymount Close, Foxrock, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Elaine O'Hara at Killakee, Rathfarnham on August 22, 2012.

Her remains were found on September 13, 2013, more than a year after she disappeared.

At the opening of his murder trial in Dublin’s Central Criminal Court, Sean Guerin SC said evidence to be put forward by the prosecution would prove the pair had a sexual relationship and had been in contact for more than a year by text messages before her disappearance.

He said these would show that an essential part of that sexual relationship was acts of stabbing committed by Mr Dwyer on Ms O’Hara.

“That was a feature of the sexual relationship that existed between them and that it reflected a deep-seated and a passionately held irrepressible desire on the part of Graham Dwyer to get sexual gratification by stabbing her,” Mr Guerin told the jury.

Expand Expand Previous Next Close Graham Dwyer: accused of the murder of Elaine O’Hara. Picture: Courtpix Graham Dwyer Pic: Courtpix / Facebook

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Whatsapp Graham Dwyer: accused of the murder of Elaine O’Hara. Picture: Courtpix

“And finally to prove, through contact on phones, that Graham Dwyer arranged on days leading up to 22 August 2012 to meet Elaine O’Hara at Shanganagh cemetery for the purpose of taking take her to the mountains where she was found for the purpose of killing her to fulfil the satisfaction of that desire.”

The court also heard no cause of death could be determined for Ms O’Hara as her body was so badly decomposed.

Mr Guerin said that text messages the prosecution maintained were between the accused and Ms O'Hara "told the story of their relationship."

He said in March, 2011, Dwyer made contact with Ms O'Hara for the purpose of renewing a relationship that had existed some years previously.

The very first message was: "Hi Elaine, hope you are keeping well." The response was: "Who is this please?"

It became clear that the relationship was then renewed and involved what is called BDSM - Bondage, Domination, Sadism and Masochism.

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Whatsapp The late Elaine O'Hara.

Mr Guerin said Ms O'Hara was someone whose sexual preference was submissive, involving restraint, being tied up, being controlled by another person and allowing herself to be punished by another person.

In a message sent from an 083 number, Dwyer is alleged to have said he was a sadist and "you should help me inflict pain on you and help me with my fantasy."

Another text alleged to have been from Dwyer said: "I want to stick my knife in flesh while I am sexually aroused and see her blood. It turns me on and I would like to stab a girl to death some time."

It was clear that this interest was not shared by Elaine O'Hara, Mr Guerin said.

It appeared from the messages that this was something that used to happen between them years earlier.

Mr Guerin said Elaine O'Hara sent a message stating: "I am not into blood any more."

It was clear from the texts that she did allow herself to be used by the accused in that way, and he did on occasion stab her, Mr Guerin continued.

The relationship was complicated by psychiatric difficulties Ms O'Hara had "of which Graham Dwyer knew full well."

It also appeared from the messages that there had been a discussion years earlier about Ms O'Hara being suicidal and there had been incidents of self-harm.

There appeared to have been a discussion which pre-dated the text messages that "if she were suicidal, Elaine O'Hara might allow herself to be stabbed to death by Graham Dwyer."

A text allegedly from the accused said: "If you ever wanted to die, promise me I can do it" and the reply was: "yes, I promise, sir."

Mr Guerin told the jury that Graham Dwyer had been manipulating and taking advantage of Ms O’Hara’s mental health and groomed her in to the idea of blood loss and get her used to what he wanted as being normal.

He said there were texts between the pair in April 2011 when a stabbing was in the news and Mr Dwyer said he’d wished he’d been there and seen the blood coming out of her.

The prosecutor read several texts messages which he maintains were between the pair, including one where she says she want to sleep and he replies “I can put you to sleep”. She replies “stop” and he replies “I know you want it. 30 seconds to slip in to oblivion”.

The prosecutor said he later tells Ms O’Hara his urge to rape, stab and kill is huge and that she has to help him “control or satisfy” it,

Mr Guerin said the messages turned to threats, warning that if she didn’t help him find a victim she would suffer the consequences of being stabbed to death.

Mr Dwyer also claimed she put the idea of killing in his head texting “It’s your fault you wanted to kill and you won’t let me stab you”, he continued.

However Mr Guerin said it appeared the sexual practice between them- where Elaine O’Hara was stabbed for Graham Dwyer – was causing difficulty for her and her mental health.

The court heard Mr Dwyer was trying to normalise what he was about, and asked if he could stab her just once, Ms O’Hara was resisting the relationship by July 2011.

In texts before they met that month she said “I don’t want you to stab me anymore” and there was a problem in the relationship at that point, the court heard.

Ms O’Hara also spoke about having a baby, with Mr Dwyer telling her to take folic acid but warning that would finish off any chance she’d have of starting a relationship, the jury was told.

The messages then turned to insulting and belittling her, Mr Guerin said, with him telling Ms O’Hara she was old, fat, a smoker and disobedient.

By October 2011 he told him she didn't want to play with him, and he asks what about a baby and offers to pay for sexual relations, Mr Guerin said.

The prosecutor said while the relationship is not quite ended, it was certainly not as intense and maybe more sporadic than previously been with fewer texts between them.

“What I suggest to you from text messages is that from that point on, the person wants to renew the relationship was Graham Dwyer and the person resisting that was Elaine O’Hara,” he said.

CCTV captured from her apartment block shows Mr Dwyer visited her in January 2012 and that April and July before she went in to hospital for five to six weeks.

Mr Guerin told the court that what happened during the last week or so of her time in hospital is that there was contact between the pair on the mobile phones found in the reservoir.

“The prosecution case is that he starts putting in place a plan he had formed to use Elaine O’Hara to get his sexual gratification by stabbing a woman to death,” Mr Guerin added.

Two days before she disappeared, while she was in a psychiatric hospital, the accused allegedly texted Ms O’Hara to tell her “she needs to get out of hospital to serve him.”

She sent a message saying she “can’t wait to get out but is scared she won’t be able to cope and about her punishment,” Mr Guerin said.

Mr Guerin said the accused sent a message saying: “If it doesn’t work out this time, the way out is through me.”

He allegedly told her all she had to do was “tell him she wants out, get into bed and wait a maximum of 12 hours.”

She texted saying “forget it for now, it’s not going to happen, soon anyway” and the reply was: “are you happy going on like this forever?”

Later that afternoon, he allegedly texted: “You will have a big punishment coming up, getting knifed in the guts.”

He added: “you will be well-bound and gagged, tied to a tree deep in the forest,” Mr Guerin continued.

She told him that he would have to drag her out of her apartment and he replied: “you will do what you are f**ing told, I want outdoor play,” warning there would be “double punishment.”

He allegedly went on to say there was a place nobody would find them.

On the day of her disappearance, Ms O’Hara texted: “please don’t talk about killing for a while, just until I have settled back.”

He replied: “fine but tonight’s punishment will be like someone pretending to do someone for real.”

He said it was his “right to take his slave’s life if he wants to,” Mr Guerin said. The prosecution would say after Ms O’Hara told the accused she was out of hospital, he told her to park at Shanganagh cemetery, leave her iPhone at home and just bring her “slave phone and keys.”

Mr Guerin also said a mattress was seized from Ms O'Hara's apartment after her remains were found and that semen on it tested positive for Mr Dwyer's DNA.

Earlier, prosecution counsel told the jury how a professional dog trainer came across 65pc of the skeletal remains of Elaine O’Hara after one of her dogs found bones in a wooded area of the foothills of the Dublin mountains.

By coincidence, three days earlier, a group of fishermen had discovered her keys and supermarket loyalty cards in a reservoir, along with handcuffs and rope, the Central Criminal Court heard.

Sean Guerin SC was describing the discoveries as he opened the case for the prosecution in the trial of architect Graham Dwyer (42), who denies murdering Ms O’Hara (36), a childcare assistant.

In his opening speech, Mr Guerin told the jury three men were fishing at a reservoir in Roundwood, Co Wicklow on September 10, 2013 when their attention was drawn to something “shiny” they saw in the water while the level was lower than usual.

They used a ratchet strap on a hook to raise the articles out of the water, and “unusually” what they found was articles of clothing, a length of rope and some handcuffs.

They drew the items out of the water and left them but one, William Fegan, returned the next day because he felt something was wrong.

He put the items into a plastic bag and brought them to Roundwood Garda Station. A garda returned several times to see if there was anything else and on September 16, he was able to reach into the water and pull out a set of ordinary domestic keys, including a number of shop loyalty cards.

The garda contacted Dunnes Stores, who were able to provide Ms O’Hara’s name and address.

On entering the details into the Pulse system, the garda discovered that she was a missing person, and had been since August 2012.

In a “remarkable coincidence,” three days after Mr Fagan and his friends lifted the items out of the water, a professional dog trainer and walker was out with a number of dogs at Killakee, Rathfarnham, when she came across Ms O’Hara’s remains.

She had finished walking the dogs when her own dog went into a wooded area. She followed it and found a quantity of bones.

She was concerned about what had been found and contacted the landowner. They thought at first they might be animal bones but then found a lower mandible or jawbone.

Realising they might be human remains, they called the gardai. On examination, the remains were found to be almost entirely skeletal. They were brought to the City Morgue and found to be about 65pc of the remains of Ms O’Hara, Mr Guerin said.

Earlier, Mr Justice Tony Hunt reminded the jury that the accused enjoyed a presumption of innocence and the burden of proof was on the prosecution to prove its case.

He advised them to confine themselves to the evidence and said they were not entitled to speculate. He said they must be clinical and leave aside any sympathies, likes or dislikes and be clear-eyed and rational in judging the evidence.

The accused, dressed in a navy suit, white shirt and red tie sat silently in the court as the case against him was outlined to the jury.

Members of both Ms O’Hara’s and the accused’s families were present in court for the proceedings.

The trial, before Mr Justice Hunt and a jury of seven men and five women is expected to take between six and eight weeks.

The accused, originally from Co Cork, worked for a firm of architects in Dublin.

Ms O'Hara vanished on August 22, 2012 after leaving her home in Belarmine Plaza, Stepaside.

The jury returned to courtroom 13 after lunch, where a detective from the Garda mapping unit took the stand.

He is going through to several maps which will be used during the trial, including Dublin's city centre, where Ms O'Hara lived and went missing, and where her remains and belongings were found.

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