Gerard Donnelly was a homeless man living in Dublin's Phoenix Park.
His body was found on fire in the park in the early hours of 29 November 2013.
Ciaran Moran, 29, of Camden Hall, Camden Street in the city, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Mr Donnelly.
Opening the case for the prosecution, senior counsel said there would be disturbing evidence.
Mr Donnelly died from catastrophic head injuries caused by a blunt instrument and was pronounced dead at the scene.
An aerosol can was found on his body.
The jury heard a number of items were found at the scene including a lump hammer, a metal pincer tool and a propane canister with a blow torch attached.
"Considerable funds"
The court was told both Mr Donnelly and Mr Moran were homeless. Mr Donnelly was living in a hostel.
The court heard there would also be evidence from CCTV and civilian witnesses that the accused had been in possession of a number of items.
They include a gas canister, a hammer and other items consistent with those found at the scene.
The jury would also hear evidence that prior to the death, the accused man was aware that Mr Donnelly was a man of "considerable funds".
The court was told a member of the police had come across Mr Donnelly a month before his death and found he had £6,200 (€8,500) in cash and a deposit book showing £103,000 (€140,000).
Prosecution counsel said the jury would also hear that the accused man made certain significant admissions in relation to Mr Donnelly's death.

Simon Brown, 24, from East Grinstead, West Sussex, hit his head on a signal gantry on 7 August.
The hearing in London was told that passenger Kirstin Duffield heard a "loud thud".
In a statement read by the coroner, she said she found Mr Brown with an injury that was "not survivable".
The train from Gatwick to London Victoria was travelling at about 60mph when the incident happened near Balham, south London.
Mark Young, from the Rail Accident Investigation Branch (RAIB), told the hearing Mr Brown's head was out of the window with no evidence to indicate why.
He said Mr Brown suffered a fatal head injury as a result of striking a signal gantry.
Ms Duffield said she saw Mr Brown had collapsed in the corridor after she stood up from her seat, but saw he was still breathing.
"There was a lot of blood on the floor and around his head. There was a massive trauma to the top of his head," she said.
She said it became apparent there was nothing she could do for him.
The inquest heard Ms Duffield got off the train at Wandsworth Common after the alarm was raised and the driver had been alerted.
She said she saw "blood splatter" on the outside of the carriage, but had not seen Mr Brown with his head out of the window.
Mr Brown's mother, Jane Street, said her son had a passion for railways and "was neither reckless nor ignorant of the dangers of that environment".
In a statement, she said her son first volunteered on the Bluebell Railway as a nine-year-old and had recently become an engineering technician with Hitachi Rail Europe in Bristol.
Mr Brown's father, Mike Brown, said his son had been due to move in with his girlfriend and he had "never seen him so relaxed, happy and enthusiastic about his future".
Questioned about findings by the RAIB, Mr Young said the distance between the window and gantry was found to be 26cm while the train was static.
He said it complied with standards for existing structures but was less than an industry-recommended minimum for new structures.
He also said it had been found the distance between the gantry and a moving carriage could have been as little as 68mm.
He said the window opposite the guard's compartment was not intended for passenger use, although it was accessible to anyone on the train and open when the train left Gatwick.
A yellow sticker on the door warning people not to lean out of the window was "in a rather cluttered environment" among many other signs, he noted.
The inquest continues.
A murder trial in Dublin has heard that a homeless man who was allegedly beaten to death with a hammer had a building society account with £103,000 pounds (€140,000).
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A man who died on the Gatwick Express was found by another passenger with a "massive trauma" to his head, an inquest has heard.