A 45-year old man has been jailed for life after he was found guilty of the murder of a woman he beat to death at his flat in Cork city in March 2017.
The Central Criminal Court heard that Nicola Collins, who was a mother of three children, had suffered 125 separate bruises and lacerations from her scalp to her ankles.
Cathal O'Sullivan, who is originally from Charleville, Co Cork, had denied the murder charge and claimed Ms Collins had fallen.
Ms Collins, 38, was originally from Tralee but lived for a number of years in Togher, Cork.
On 27 March 2017, her body was found in an upstairs flat at Popham's Road, Farranree, in the city.
Her body was lying naked on the floor with her legs up on a bed.
Ms Collins had gone to the flat with O’Sullivan, and they had spent a number of days there drinking and watching television.
The prosecution alleged that O'Sullivan beat Ms Collins to death, and presented evidence that the post-mortem examination revealed she had suffered 125 separate bruises and lacerations to her body, including blunt force trauma to her head.
O'Sullivan, who denied the charge of murder, claimed Ms Collins was injured when she slipped in the shower and hit her head off a star-shaped tap.
He claimed she suffered from aggressive outbursts and sustained other injuries when she came at him after they had both been drinking.
The prosecution alleged that O'Sullivan was calculated and remorseless and the sheer extent of Ms Collins' injuries were inconsistent with them occurring accidentally.
O'Sullivan's defence said there was no evidence of a motive to suggest why he should subject her to such a sustained attack, and said his evidence pointed to a man who cared for Ms Collins.
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The jury returned with a unanimous verdict after deliberating for just under four hours.
In a victim impact statement, Ms Collins' sister Carly paid tribute to her sister, and said Nicola had touched the lives of many people.
She said that her family were heartbroken following Ms Collins death, and that her sons were "left shocked and despondent at the sudden loss of a mother and a friend.
"They were totally distraught at not being able to talk to her one last time or tell her how much she was loved."
She said that Ms Collins' death "still feels like a bad dream, one that we wish we could wake up from".
