A ROCK weighing 3.5 kilograms found at the top of Ireland’s tallest cliffs had hairs and blood stains with DNA matching a dead OAP, a jury has heard.
Robert ‘Robin’ Wilkin’s body was found in the sea eight days after it is alleged the two accused threw him over the Sliabh Liag cliffs in Donegal.
Dr Conor Young of Forensic Science Ireland today told the trial of Alan Vial, 39, and Nikita Burns, 23, that the blood staining could be explained by direct contact between the rock and Mr Wilkin, 66, or by contact with a surface that was heavily stained with his blood.
The trial also heard from Detective Garda Jeanette O’Neill, a ballistics expert with the Garda Technical Bureau, who told Bernard Condon SC for the prosecution that she found the rock on the edge of the Sliabh Liag cliffs near a viewing point used by tourists.
Nearby were other items including a man’s reading glasses, a silver chain with a broken clasp and a five cent coin.
Further down the cliff, Det Gda O’Neill found a frame from the rearview mirror of a car which appeared to have a blood swipe on it.
Garda searchers also recovered a heavily bloodstained blanket and a man’s Ravel wristwatch.
Inside a Volkswagen Passat in which the prosecution alleges the assault on Mr Wilkin happened, Det Gda O’Neill found blood spatter on the roof, on the rear passenger window and the rear window.
From the pattern of the blood spatter, she concluded that the assailant may have sat in the front passenger seat when the assault took place.
A brother of Mr Vial has testified that after the alleged murder, the accused man borrowed a vacuum to clean his car and when it was returned, it was “full of gunk” which the witness assumed was “red wine vomit”.
Nikita Burns of Carrick, Co Donegal and Alan Vial, of Drumanoo Head, Killybegs, Co Donegal have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Robert Wilkin on June 25, 2023 in Donegal.
The trial continues.
