A jury will on Thursday resume considering its verdict in the trial of Richard Satchwell who denies the murder of his wife at their Co Cork home.
The skeletal remains of Tina Satchwell were found under the couple’s home in October 2023, more than six years after her husband reported her missing.
Mr Satchwell (58), a lorry driver, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his 45-year-old wife Tina at their home at No 3 Grattan Street, Youghal, on March 19th and 20th, 2017.
The trial, now in its fifth week, heard evidence from more than 50 witnesses.
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After Mr Justice Paul McDermott completed his directions to the jury of seven women and five men on the evidence and law, he sent them out at 3.05pm on Tuesday to begin considering their verdict.
The jury was sent home, at their request, at 4pm and returned to court on Wednesday when they deliberated for more than four and a half hours before again being sent home at 4pm.
Relatives of Ms Satchwell, including her mother Mary Collins, half-sister Lorraine Howard and cousin Sarah Howard were in court.
The jury has been told there are three possible verdicts open to them – not guilty of murder; guilty of murder; and not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
The judge has directed they may also consider, depending on their view of the evidence, a defence of partial self-defence or full self-defence.
The trial heard Mr Satchwell went to Fermoy garda station on March 24th, 2017, where he told a garda his wife had disappeared from their home four days later, he believed she had left him and had taken €26,000 cash savings. He told a garda he was not concerned about her safety.
After gardai interviewed him in early May 2017, he formally reported his wife as a missing person about a week later.
Gardaí, increasingly concerned something untoward had happened to Ms Satchwell, obtained a warrant to search the couple’s home in June 2017 when devices were seized.
In October 2023, gardaí carried out a full invasive search of the property, using a cadaver dog. Skeletal remains identified as Ms Satchwell were found on October 11th, 2023, buried in a grave site about one metre deep in an area under the stairs in the sitting room.
Mr Satchwell, who had been arrested but released before the remains were found, was rearrested. During another interview with gardaí, he told them his wife had flown at him with a chisel on the morning of March 20th, 2017. He fell, and she came on top of him trying to stab him with the chisel, he claimed. He said, while fending her off with the belt of her dressing gown robe which was up around her neck, she went limp and died.
He told gardaí there was “no premeditation” and he had not called emergency services due to “panic and shame”.
A postmortem examination of the remains was, due to lapse of time, unable to establish a cause of death. The jury heard there was no evidence of fractures to the bones, including the hyoid bone in the neck.
