A man and a woman accused of the murder of a 66-year-old man in Donegal in 2023 hit him on the head with a rock and threw him off the Sliabh Liag cliffs, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Alan Vial, 39, of Drumanoo Head, Killybegs in Donegal and 24-year-old Nikita Burns from An Charraig, Donegal have both pleaded not guilty to the murder of Robert 'Robin' Wilkin on 25 June 2023 in Donegal.
The prosecution case is that both had engaged in a joint enterprise and that each subsequently claimed the other "did it."
Originally from Co Tyrone, Mr Wilkin was a transient person who at the time of his death seems to have moved in with Mr Vial in Killybegs. Ms Burns also spent some time there.
On the night of 24 June 2023, the three had been out drinking in two pubs in Killybegs and Dunkineely and then drove off in a Volkswagen Passat car in the early hours of the following morning.
The prosecution said that sometime between 2am and 2.15am on 25 June, the car stopped at Roshine between Killybegs and Ardara and Mr Wilkin was violently assaulted.
He was hit on the head with a rock before he was driven to the top of the Sliabh Liag cliffs and his body thrown off. It was recovered from the water below a week later.
Prosecuting counsel Bernard Condon told the jury that Ms Burns and Mr Vial had driven up and back to the cliffs a number of times on 25 June and the Passat was captured on CCTV.
The car was cleaned at Mr Vial's brother’s house in Ardara, but Mr Vial crashed it later that evening and was arrested for drunken driving.
The court was told that later that evening Ms Burns made a number of admissions to other people about her involvement in the murder and gardaí were alerted.
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Mr Wilkin’s blood was subsequently found in the car, on a pair of Ms Burns leggings and on a pair of boots found in Mr Vial’s home. Mr Wilkin’s phone was also found there.
The jury was also told that blood was found on and in a vacuum cleaner, on a white blanket and on a grey jumper which was recovered halfway down the cliffs.
Glasses, a silver chain and a blood-stained rock were found at the top of Sliabh Liag which the State Pathologist found was consistent with having caused two head injuries found on Mr Wilkin’s body.
The court was also told that in garda interviews, Ms Burns denied murder but admitted she had helped clean the car while Mr Vial also denied murder or disposing of the body but also made certain admissions about assault.
Senior Counsel Bernard Condon said it is the prosecution's case that these are lies, that both were "responsible for the acts of the others", that both were "in it together" and both claimed the other had done it.
The trial, before a jury of five men and seven women, is expected to last three weeks.
