Murder accused stabbed himself in leg and smeared blood on his face ‘like in Braveheart’ says witness
Wayne Roche, of Dominic’s Place, Waterford City, is accused of murdering John ‘King’ O’Connor on a date between December 30-31, 2024, at 17 Cluain Fada, Morrissyland, New Ross, Co. Wexford. He is pleading not guilty.
The trial of a man accused of murder continued at Waterford Central Criminal Court last week.
Wayne Roche, of Dominic’s Place, Waterford City, is accused of murdering John ‘King’ O’Connor on a date between December 30-31, 2024, at 17 Cluain Fada, Morrissyland, New Ross, Co. Wexford. He is pleading not guilty.
John O’Connor (59) was discovered at his home on the morning of December 31 by his daughter Chloe. He was found lying on his back in a pool of blood.
On Tuesday, April 28, the jury of eight women and four men heard evidence from a number of witnesses. The court heard from the daughter of the deceased and his friend Michael Bancewicz. Judge Patrick McGrath is presiding over the trial. Roche is represented by John Byrne SC. Dean Kelly SC is acting on behalf of the State.
Daughter of the deceased Chloe O’Connor gave her testimony in relation to the dates of December 30 to 31, 2024. The court heard that she had travelled into Waterford on Monday, December 30, with Wayne Roche, her partner at the time. She said that they went to pick up their social welfare allowance and "went around a few shops". At some point, she said that they bought heroin and later took a taxi together to buy 60 tablets of benzodiazepines.
When asked by Mr Byrne how he consumed the heroin, she replied: “Injected or smoked it.”
Ms O’Connor travelled with Roche back to New Ross. CCTV footage showed them buying alcohol from Corcoran’s Off Licence on their way to visit her father. She paid for a bottle of Jameson Whiskey and a bottle of Fireball tequila.
She said the plan was to have a few drinks with her father and to share the news that she was pregnant and expecting a child with Roche.
Ms O’Connor left the flat with Roche and parted ways at Corcoran’s. They had arranged for Roche to stay at her father’s home while she stayed at her mother’s. She told the court that her father got on well with Roche and they wanted to celebrate the news of her pregnancy.
The next morning, she arrived at her father’s home to find the door unlocked. She found her father ‘cold’ on the ground in a pool of blood.
Michael Bancewicz had been staying at Mr O’Connor’s flat at the time but left on the night of December 30.
He told the court that he was having a few drinks with Mr O’Connor and Roche when the latter began acting ‘aggressively’. According to the witness, Roche took his shirt off, showing off scars on his arms and bragging about ‘prison’.
Roche was described as going into the kitchen, returning with a knife and stabbing himself in the leg. Concerned, Mr Bancewicz took his phone out to shine a light on the flow of blood coming from Roche’s leg. He said: “[Roche] takes the blood, like in Braveheart, and spread it on his face. I took the flashlight on my phone to show him that he was bleeding.
“He thought that I was recording him. I said, ‘Hey man, you’re really bleeding!’ He started hitting me in the face, punching me in the face and tried taking the phone from my hand.”
Mr Bancewicz went on: “I thought it was going very wrong, it was escalating and I could not protect myself with my medical conditions." (Mr Bancewicz has suffered significant respiratory injuries due to a house fire in Wexford). The witness left and went to a friend’s house nearby. The friend, John Delaney, confirmed that Mr Bancewicz did visit his home that night and told him about the encounter. In their messages, there was a reference to ‘herb’.
Defence counsel John Byrne SC asked Mr Delaney if he smokes cannabis, to which he replied, “Oh definitely,” before going on to explain his back issues.
Judge McGrath interjected: “You don’t have to explain.” Mr Delaney said that Bancewicz left 17 Cluain Fada because “the atmosphere went haywire”.
The trial continued on Wednesday, April 29, with the jury hearing from numerous witnesses who observed the accused around New Ross during the dates in question.
The jury heard from a Garda who was tipped off about Roche acting suspiciously in the Cluain Fada area but did not investigate further.
The first witness of the day was Darren Delaney, a man who lived a few doors away from Mr O’Connor. He was at his home on the night of Monday, December 30, 2024, when he heard a knock on the patio door shortly before 11pm. He opened the curtain to see Wayne Roche, a man who he "knew of", pressed up against the window.
Mr Delaney described the scene: “[Roche] asked me how long I was living there and he said ‘You won’t be living here much longer.’ I took it as a small bit of aggression towards me. I never opened the door, I only opened the curtains.”
Roche then left and began walking in the direction of 17 Cluain Fada, as seen by the witness. Mr Delaney called the Gardaí about the incident. Garda Bridget Comerford was on-duty in New Ross at the time and was alerted to the call via the Waterford radio. On doorbell footage, Garda Comerford can be seen driving the patrol car to Mr Delaney’s home only moments after Roche can be seen leaving the area. Garda Comerford took a statement from Mr Delaney about his interaction with Roche and pointed out that he had gone off in "the direction of 17 Cluain Fada".
Mr Byrne asked her if she saw Wayne Roche in the area. She said: “I don’t recall seeing him.”
Mr Byrne asked her if she went to 17 Cluain Fada to investigate further.
She responded: “I can’t recall. Mr Delaney wanted to note the interaction.”
A couple living in the neighbourhood also appeared to give testimony. Separately, they both described seeing a man understood to be Wayne Roche appearing at their door and repeatedly asking for ‘Skitzer.’ Doorbell screenshots were obtained that showed Roche at their door with his hood up. Roche eventually staggered away from the door, with the couple noting that he was "obviously drunk".
Roche spent much of the morning of Tuesday, December 31, 2024, looking for a lift to Waterford.
A young man told the court that he saw a "scruffy" Roche on the morning of Tuesday, December 31, in Cluain Fada shortly before 11am. The man was visiting his grandfather and was leaving when a limping Roche approached him asking for a lift to Waterford.
The man said: “He had a scar on his face. He said he was after being attacked and asked if we’d help him. He said he wanted to go to hospital in Waterford.”
The man tried to call a local taxi service for Roche but they were unavailable.
Wayne Roche approached multiple people asking for a lift to Waterford. He was able to get a lift off a man from Irishtown (in New Ross) to the New Ross bus station. Roche offered the motorist "100 pound" to take him straight to Waterford but was refused.
The motorist said on the stand: “He said he got stabbed by two foreign guys from an estate. He was pleading, he offered me 100 pound to bring him to hospital in Waterford. I said I wasn’t bringing him and I dropped him at the bus station on the Quay.
“There was blood on his face. He said he had a stab wound but I never saw anything.” Staff members at local shops recalled seeing Roche in an "agitated" state and asking for a taxi to go to "hospital". One shop worker told him to go to the local Garda station for help but he said he "didn’t want to do that".
One woman told the court that she heard Roche saying that he "needed to get out of town".
Mr Byrne challenged her on this comment, noting that it was not in her official statement to Gardaí. She replied: “I said he kept asking for a taxi and kept saying that he’d been assaulted in a house.”
“I’m going to suggest to you that he never said that,” stated Mr Byrne.
“He did say that,” she answered.
The jury heard evidence from members of John O’Connor’s family, including the mother of his children. They were alerted to his death after being contacted by the emergency services, and rushed to 17 Cluain Fada. Roche held his head in his hands as they spoke.
On the fourth day of the trial, (Thursday, April 30), the jury heard from multiple Garda witnesses about the events of Tuesday, December 31, 2024.
Detective Garda Conor Walsh was the first officer on the scene at 17 Cluain Fada. He received an alert at 11.15 that morning and arrived alone to the address. Upon entering the flat, he encountered Chloe O’Connor, daughter of the deceased, in a highly distressed state. He saw her aunt Bridget Daly conducting CPR on John O’Connor, who was prone on the ground.
Det. Walsh told the court: “This man had multiple injuries. There was no sign of breathing or life.” He noted that the man was cold, stiff and showed no signs of life.
Det. Walsh took the pulse of the victim and tried CPR to “to give Ms Daly a break”. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later. As paramedics worked on Mr O’Connor, Det. Walsh moved both Chloe and Bridget out of the flat, knowing that it would need to be preserved as a crime scene. Minutes later, the paramedics pronounced John O’Connor dead.
The jury saw numerous exhibits taken and preserved from the crime scene, including a bloody work boot that was found on the kitchen counter and two knives. Photographs showed blood splattered from the landing of the flat entrance, walls, kitchen, sitting room and bathroom of 17 Cluain Fada. The jury will hear evidence about forensic analysis next week.
Wayne Roche was arrested at the bus station on the Quay in New Ross. Multiple eye witness accounts described Roche asking for a lift to Waterford to go to ‘hospital’ due to his injuries.
Garda Keelan O’Neill was on patrol that morning when he was alerted about the death in Cluain Fada. He did not enter the flat as it was being preserved for the technical investigation team. Chloe O’Connor told Garda O’Neill that Wayne Roche and Michael Bancewicz had been at the flat the night before, having a few drinks with her father.
Garda O’Neill then received a call from a local shopkeeper sharing her concerns about Wayne Roche. Roche had just entered her shop and had asked for a lift to Waterford. Garda O’Neill, accompanied by Garda Alan Tobin, drove in the direction of the Quay based on the shopkeeper’s tip-off.
Garda O’Neill apprehended Roche at the bus station and could see that he had sustained injuries. Roche pulled up his trouser leg to show a puncture mark on his calf.
At the bus station, Roche told Gardaí that he had spent the night in John O’Connor’s flat, had woken up with his injuries and left the flat. He claimed that upon leaving, he saw Mr O’Connor "asleep and saw his stomach going up and down".
Roche asked the Gardaí: “Why aren’t you looking for Michael (Bancewicz)?”
Roche was then arrested under suspicion of carrying out an assault contrary to Section 3 of the Non-Fatal Offences Act.
Garda O’Neill confirmed to the court that he would have arrested Mr Bancewicz in similar circumstances.
Roche was conveyed to New Ross Garda Station and was deemed to be unfit for interview by the member in charge. An ambulance was arranged to take him to University Hospital Waterford (UHW).
Detective Garda Donal Doyle drove behind the ambulance while Garda Tobin accompanied the accused. Inside the ambulance, Roche made a number of abusive comments to Garda Tobin and members of his family.
At the A&E department of UHW, Roche refused to receive any medical treatment and shouted homophobic and racist abuse at Gardaí, security staff and medical staff. He called two security staffers “Muslim bastards”.
The A&E ward was extremely busy at the time of Roche’s arrival. He was triaged in a private room and began shouting "I need to take a s**t". Gardaí told him that he could not lock himself into a toilet cubicle as a safety precaution.
However, at one point Roche rushed into a cubicle and locked himself inside. Gardaí could hear an aluminum lid shut and the sound of glass breaking. Security were able to unlock the door from the other side.
The door opened and Roche was seen "sawing" broken glass into the side of his neck. He was quickly apprehended by Gardaí. He scooped up the blood flowing from his neck, put it into his mouth and threatened to spit it at Gardaí and hospital staff.
Roche then reached into his underwear to produce another glass shard and tried to scratch the other side of his neck.
Mr Byrne asked Garda Tobin how Roche was able to convey a glass bottle into the hospital. Garda Tobin said: “I don’t know, I wouldn’t have been privy to the search.”
Det. Doyle spoke about the time inside UHW, corroborating the events recounted by Garda Tobin. Det. Doyle told the court that Roche had to receive staples to his neck, but he ripped them out "not two minutes later".
Roche told the Gardaí he wanted to die "because he didn’t want to hurt anyone else".
Det. Doyle told the court that Roche asked him to shoot him and began calling him a "coward".
Det. Doyle said: “He said he wanted my family to die of cancer and he would rape my daughter.”
In court, Roche shouted at the Detective: “Did you have that recorded? Did you have a body camera on?”
The trial will reconvene on Tuesday, May 5.
