It was one of the most gruesome killings ever to be recalled before an Irish court. According to the statements of both sisters, Noor (38) died after being set upon by the two women, who were armed with a knife and hammer.

The statements describe how 23-yearold Charlotte cut Noor's throat, before Linda, aged 31, struck him with the hammer. The two women then told gardai that they cut the man's body into pieces, before disposing of his remains in two separate locations.

"Ma kept saying to me and Linda, 'Please just kill him for me', then she got the hammer and the knife and she gave them to me and Linda, but he wouldn't let Linda go and I cut him on the neck, " Charlotte told gardai.

Her sister, too, recalled the assault that led to the man's death. "I picked up a hammer and hit him on the head a good few times and Charlotte stabbed him, " said Linda, according to her garda statement. Both women have pleaded not guilty to the murder of Farah Swaleh Noor.

As the hearing opened last week at the Central Criminal Court, prosecution counsel read the statements given to gardai. Charlotte had initially denied all knowledge of the man's death. However, she later told the guards that she had been present when Noor was killed and had cut his throat.

She described stabbing Noor in the throat and later cutting up his body. She could not remember all the details, however. She couldn't recall if there was a struggle; she couldn't remember how many times she had stabbed the man, nor whether anyone had checked Noor's breathing to see if he was dead.

"I really can't remember", she told gardai when asked whether she had plunged the knife into Noor's body over 20 times, a figure produced by an examination of his body.

In an early statement to gardai, she denied being present at the time of the killing. She said her sister had told gardai she had killed Noor only because they had promised their mother that they would take the blame.

Charlotte later changed her story, however, and said she had killed Noor with the help of her sister following a late-night row. The incident took place at "one or two o'clock" in the morning, after Noor grabbed hold of Linda and refused to let her go, according to the statement.

Noor is alleged to have whispered a comment in Linda's ear that she had objected to. At this point, Kathleen Mulhall had asked her daughters to kill the man. Earlier in the evening, Charlotte claims her mother confided in her that Noor had threatened to kill her. He told her he would kill her "before the year was out", according to the statement. He claimed to have already killed "a girl in Dun Laoghaire", the court was told.

After Noor had died, Charlotte's statement claims that Kathleen suggested cutting the body into pieces. "Me mammy said, 'just cut him up', " said the statement.

"I just remember cutting; I cut him up with the knife."

Noor's torso was discovered in the Royal Canal. His head and his penis have never been found. Charlotte told gardai she did not know why they had decided to cut these off. It was put to her that Noor's head had been removed to make it look like a ritual killing. Charlotte said she had never heard of ritual killings and reiterated that she was unsure why they had decapitated the man.

The whereabouts of Kathleen Mulhall are unknown. Gardai asked Charlotte whether she was annoyed with her mother because of what happened. "I can't be annoyed with her . . . we're the stupid ones who did it, " she replied.

The incident had deeply affected Linda Mulhall, who told gardai that it was driving her "mental". She had spent over a week in a psychiatric hospital since Noor's death and told gardai that she felt "a lot better" since telling them what had happened to the man.

On Friday afternoon, Lawrence Patrick Keegan, from Tallaght, took to the stand. Keegan was produced as a witness by the prosecution.

Keegan told the court that he was a regular visitor to Sean Walsh Park, known locally as 'Watergate Park', which is where the Mulhall sisters are alleged to have buried Noor's head. Keegan went to the park "to have a drink or read a book", he told the court.

On one visit to the park, he was sitting in his usual seat . . . his "winter seat", as he called it . . . when he saw an object protruding from the ground. "I kicked it and it didn't move. . . I kicked it loads of times with my foot, " he said.

The prosecution put it to Keegan that he had subsequently told the park ranger that he had spotted what he believed to be a human head, possibly the one linked to the recent discovery of a body in the canal.

Keegan told the court that he could not remember making that statement.

"I'm an alcoholic, " he said. "I could have seen a pink elephant in the park. I could have told you anything."

Also appearing before the court on Friday afternoon was Joseph Eustace, managing director of a city-centre carpet shop. He confirmed to the court that his company had sold and delivered a new carpet to Kathleen Mulhall, mother of the two accused, in late March 2005. Mulhall purchased the carpet on 26 March. It was delivered to her house three days later, he said. The court had already heard how Charlotte had admitted in her statement to gardai that they had replaced the carpet in the house after the killing.

The trial will resume at 2pm tomorrow before Justice Paul Carney.