THE jury in the trial of a man accused of killing his mother before dismembering and burying her body in a shallow grave have been told there will always be unanswered questions.
Prosecutor Alex Prentice QC told the High Court in Edinburgh that the case against James Dunleavy relied greatly on circumstantial evidence.
The prosecutor said: "This is a classic case of that type. There will be some unanswered questions in this case, some unresolved issues."
Mr Dunleavy, 40, is accused of beheading his 66-year-old mother, Philomena Dunleavy, before burying her mutilated body.
Mr Prentice explained that one of the "loose ends" in the case concerned the account given by shopkeeper Mohammed Tariq Razaq of a row between Mr Dunleavy and his mother.
He continued by outlining that he was not suggesting Mr Dunleavy did not love his mother but that there was an issue between them that might be related to a new man in Ms Dunleavy’s life.
"There is something going on between son and mother and it is linked in some way to this relationship. That is all I can say,” he said.
He appealed to the jury to apply "common sense" when considering the question of what happened to Mrs Dunleavy.
Mr Dunleavy told the court that his mother routinely went missing and that this behaviour was normal.
He further explained that she had arrived unannounced at his flat in Balgreen Road, Edinburgh, last spring and left again without warning to return to Dublin.
However, her clothing, €870 euros and her identity card were found in Mr Dunleavy’s home.
He agreed that he was the last person to see his mother alive but denied killing and burying her dismembered body on Edinburgh's Corstorphine Hill.
Mr Dunleavy gave evidence for just over an hour and repeatedly insisted he loved his mother.
When questioned by Defence QC Gordon Jackson whether he was involved in his mother’s death, Mr Dunleavy replied “no.”
"I did nothing to my mother. I thought she would miraculously appear again," he said.
The accused's 68-year-old father, also called James Dunleavy, told the court his wife had suffered a stroke and had a long stay in a Dublin hospital as she was badly affected by it.
Mr Dunleavy Snr described a phone call from his son in late April or early May last year.
"James rang me to say she was on her way home, that she would be there that night. But she never returned."
Mr Dunleavy is accused of beheading his mother before burying her dismembered body.
He denies battering her to death between April 30 and May 7 last year.
He also denies attempting to cover up the alleged murder and destroy the evidence.
The prosecution alleges that Mr Dunleavy inflicted ‘blunt force trauma’ on his mother, compressed her throat and cut off her head and legs with a blade and something like a saw.
A second charge accuses Mr Dunleavy of pretending his mother was unwell and had returned to Ireland.
It is further alleged that he put his mother’s severed body into a suitcase and took it to Corstorphine Hill where he buried her.
Prosecutors also claim that Mr Dunleavy vacuumed and washed his flat to remove blood stains and set fire to a bed and mattress.
The trial at the High Court in Edinburgh continues.
