A Dublin man has been found guilty of murdering mother-of-one Kirsty Ward at their hotel in Spain.
Jurors during the trial in the Spanish city of Tarragona found Keith Byrne guilty after three days of deliberations.
Byrne (34) strangled Ms Ward to death with a hair-straightener power cord on July 2nd, 2023 after she told him she was leaving him, the trial heard.
The former solder had claimed during his trial that Ms Ward (36) had died by suicide at the Magnolia Hotel on the Costa Daurada, south of Barcelona.
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He had described himself as a “respectful and intelligent” father-of-three who would never commit an act of domestic violence - and demonised Ms Ward as someone who could be “four people in one day”, especially after binging on alcohol and cocaine which he claimed made their romance “toxic”.
Kirsty Ward’s family said in a statement after the verdict: “Our family wish to thank our private prosecutor Estela Cortes and her team for guiding, supporting and representing Kirsty, her son and our family at this very difficult and painful time; Javier Goimil the public prosecutor for his commitment and passion; the Spanish investigation teams and police for their expertise, empathy and understanding; and the jury for seeing and believing in what was the truth about our beautiful Kirsty.
“Our family now request our privacy to be respected, while we grieve and come to terms with all that has happened during the past two years.”
The trial judge announced he was retiring to consider his sentence after the jury decision late on Wednesday night and Byrne is not expected to be sentenced for up to a month.
Public prosecutor Javier Goimil urged the judge to jail him for 20 years. He lowered his initial pre-trial demand by a year as he accepted Byrne’s prior use of alcohol and drugs as a mitigating circumstance after jurors ruled he had “diminished cognitive and volitional faculties” when he killed Ms Ward.
A private prosecutor acting for Ms Ward‘s family said she was still seeking the 30-year sentence she argued for during the trial.
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During his closing speech to the jury, Mr Goimil said Byrne, who had been living in Duleek, Co Meath, decided: “You’re mine or you’re nobody’s” and strangled Ms Ward because she wanted to leave..
He said the forensic evidence showed Ms Ward had been strangled from behind between 8pm and 10pm on July 2nd, 2023 after “incapacitating herself” with alcohol and cocaine.
He told the court: “Byrne has adapted his version of events of what happened in that timeframe nearly two years on in accordance with the evidence he’s learnt there is against him.”
“What’s occurred here is a violent and painful death, a strangulation from behind where someone is pulling from the front to the back. This was not a suicide.”
He added: “She didn’t leave a note for her son or her siblings or her mum and what’s more, she had bought a plane ticket back to Dublin for July 4th.“
Ms Ward‘s relationship with Byrne was very toxic, very intense and very emotional, he told the court.
Ms Ward’s mother Jackie Ward described Byrne as someone she “didn’t like” and “didn’t trust” on day one of the trial on April 23nd and said she had found out after her daughter’s death she had planned to leave him during their “make or break” holiday.
Jurors started deliberating on Monday.
Byrne’s defence lawyer Jordi Cabre had been seeking his client’s acquittal before the verdict and afterwards asked the judge to hand down the “minimum sentence”.
Jackie Ward described her daughter after her death as a “fantastic friend” to her parents and “an absolutely adored daughter.”
She told the congregation at her funeral Mass at the Church of John the Evangelist in Ballinteer, Dublin in July 2023 that she had been an amazing mother to her son.
“To me she was a fantastic friend and an absolutely adored daughter to myself and John. She was a caring sister, a cherished granddaughter and much loved niece and cousin. A loyal and true friend.”
