THE trial of a County Tyrone man accused of murdering Damien Heagney has heard from some of the last people to see him before his disappearance.
Stephen Eugene McCourt (41) previously of Gartland Terrace. Dromore then Riverview Augher, denies murdering the victim between 31 December 2021 and 6 January 2022.
His dismembered remains were recovered from a reservoir just outside Pomeroy seven months after he was last seen alive.
Declan Loughran was a former work colleague and while he was unable to say who Mr Heagney was associating with while he was living in the Burnvale area of Cookstown he was aware he had a dog.
He last saw Mr Heagney on Christmas Day 2021 as, “I met him a few days before and told him I had a new pup. He had a great interest in dogs and I invited him out to see it. He came about 7pm. He was a quiet sort of person but was in good enough form. We had a few drinks together and he left around 11pm.”
Nothing stood out in terms of unusual behaviour
Mr Loughran’s last contact occurred when, “I received a missed call on 31 December (2021) at 12.38am. I returned the call around 3pm after I got home from work. He told me that his car had broken down and wanted to know if he could take it to my house. Then he said he’d got it sorted. It was smoking and losing coolant. We had a discussion of what might be wrong and he was concerned at the cost of fixing it”
After the call ended, he never saw or heard from Mr Heagney again.
A vehicle recovery operator Daniel Meenagh said Mr Heagney contacted him around 11pm on 31 December 2021 asking to have his BMW car picked up from the main Omagh to Cookstown road where it had broken down.
After loading the BMW on his recovery vehicle Mr Heagney got into the cabin beside Mr Meenagh.
“He wanted to go to Kildress but then said Dromore. He made a phone call relating to a dog which he’d get the next day. He was very stressed out at the start of the journey but as I went on up the road he levelled out.”
On arrival in Dromore, “He told me where he wanted the car left and I reversed my lorry in. A man came out of a house and him and Mr Heagney were talking at the back of car. They must have known each other. Then Mr Heagney paid me and I left.”
Under defence cross-examination Mr Meenagh confirmed Mr Heagney initially, “Seemed tense, then when he got into the lorry he was more tense. He was very agitated. I felt uncomfortable and nervous. There was a door pocket with a wheelbrace in it and I thought I might need it for my own protection. I didn’t just like his body language at that time but as we drove it changed. He mellowed.”
Several days later another vehicle recovery operator Aidan Crooks who knew McCourt by his nickname ‘Reggie’ for a number of years and received a call from him asking for a BMW car to be removed.
“My son lifted this and dropped it off at a location. I think I was paid in cash the following day. Reggie normally drove a white Citroen Berlingo van. I also recovered a white van for him, close to the same time. He rang saying he was stuck in grass and needed towed out. I took a four-wheeled jeep and pulled him out with a rope. There was snow on the ground and my other son came with me.”
Asked where this occurred, he replied, “Cappagh Reservoir. Reggie opened the gate.”
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