A trial has heard a homeless man died from catastrophic head injuries before being set on fire in the Phoenix Park in Dublin.
Ciaran Moran (29) with an address at Camden Street denies murdering Gerard Donnelly in November 2013.
Garda Peter Murtagh said he thought it was a mannequin when he first came across the burning body of Mr Donnelly in the Phoenix Park.
It was after midnight on November 29th 2013 and he was on patrol with a colleague when they saw a small fire in a fenced-off wooded area near the Wellington Monument.
State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy carried out the post mortem on the badly burnt body.
She concluded he had died from catastrophic head injuries, suggesting multiple blows from a relatively heavy object - possibly a lump hammer found at the scene.
Her evidence was that Mr Donnelly was already dead when set alight and when a toe was amputated.
It is the case of the prosecution that Mr Donnelly was homeless but had €140,000 in an EBS account and that the accused Mr Moran killed him knowing he was a man of some means.
