A forty-one-year-old man has been found guilty of murdering Damien Heagney whose dismembered remains were recovered from a reservoir around eight months after he was last seen alive.
Stephen Eugene McCourt (41) previously of Gartland Terrace, Dromore then Riverview Augher, denied murdering the victim between 31 December 2021 and 6 January 2022, but the jury took just under three hours to unanimously convict him.
The trial at Dungannon Crown Court heard In July 2022 Mr Heagney’s GP practice contacted police to carry out a welfare check as he hadn’t collected his medication in-person since 7 December 2021 and until May 2022 was lifted by someone else who claimed to have permission to do so.
Police launched a missing person investigation however after information was received the matter was updated to a murder inquiry.
On 10 August 2022 M Heaney’s dismembered remains were recovered in two packages from Cappagh Reservoir near Pomeroy.
After three weeks of evidence the prosecution case closed on Monday 7 April.
Immediately after, defence counsel stated McCourt would not be giving evidence.
During the trial Multiple witnesses were called including a vehicle recovery operator who collected Mr Heagney’s broken down car and moved it to McCourt’s home in Dromore on New Year’s Eve 2021.
A few days later McCourt’s neighbour observed him placing strips of carpet into the rear of a white van, noting one piece had a large, dark stain.
A specialist PSNI detective who carried out cell-site analysis said McCourt’s phone was in the Ballygawley area around 8pm on New Year’s Eve 2021 when Mr Heagney’s phone attempted a voice call which was not answered followed by a text.
McCourt twice responded by text
From that night until 3 January 2022, Mr Heagney’s phone remained at McGartland Terrace, however around midday it travelled between Dromore and Kesh, close to Lower Lough Erne.
After that, until 10am the next morning the phone was near McGartland Terrace when it either lost power or was switched off until 4 January 2022 when it briefly “became active again”.
On 2 January 2022, McCourt’s phone, “Detached from the network for just over 16 hours” in the Dromore area.
The SIM card activated the next day in Cookstown, “having been placed into another handset.”
When Mr Heagney’s phone “briefly sparked into life”, McCourt’s device was removed from the network.
In early January 2022 a vehicle recovery operator, who knew McCourt as ‘Reggie’ removed a BMW from his home.
A few days later he towed a white van for McCourt which had become stuck in grass near Cappagh Reservoir where, “Reggie opened the gate” to let him in.
0n 10 August 2022 an NI Water Inspector observed a suspicious package encased in sheepwire in Cappagh Reservoir and alerted authorities.
A diver observed a human foot and subsequently two legs with wire around the upper parts.
The body had been cut in half and a second package was located nearby.
One package contained a head and two arms, while the second held lower limbs, but the tops of the thigh bones were missing, having been “cut below the ball-and-socket joints.
The torso was never found.
The pathologist could not ascertain a cause of death, “due to decomposition and dismemberment”.
There were three stab-like injuries to the head and neck, similar wounds to the arms and multiple incisions to the left leg.
The injuries required at least moderate force and if inflicted during life would have bled briskly but unlikely to prove life-threatening.
The pathologist said, “The upper limbs had been disarticulated and the lower limbs were dismembered. They had been cut uniformly, strongly suggestive of sawing, quite possibly some form of electric saw … All remains were in a similar state and could have been in the water since Mr Heagney’s disappearance, however this cannot be stated with absolute certainty.”
The jury retired to commence deliberations yesterday (Tuesday) which resumed today, returning a unanimous guilty verdict after a combined total of around four hours.
Mr Justice Fowler told McCourt, “You have been found guilty of murder and there is only one sentence I can impose and that is life imprisonment.”
A minimum tariff hearing will be set in due course.
Before concluding Mr Justice Fowler commended Mr Heaney’s family “On how they had conducted themselves during this difficult trial process.”
