The wife of Dublin fast food takeaway owner Franco Sacco yesterday denied his murder when her trial opened in the Central Criminal Court.
When she was arraigned Mrs Anna Maria Sacco (22), of Riversdale Park, Kimmage, pleaded not guilty to the murder of her husband, aged 29, at their home in Coolamber Park, Templeogue on March 20th, 1997.
A jury of nine men and three women heard that gardai found him wrapped in bedclothes on the floor of his bedroom shortly before 8 p.m. on March 20th, after a teenage girl arrived at Rathfarnham Garda station in "a distressed state".
Prosecution counsel Mr Peter Charleton SC told the jury the case made by the prosecution is that Anna Maria Sacco was not the person who pulled the trigger but she was "in a common design" with another person.
She was "directing or orchestrating" that event, either through agreement or otherwise, Mr Charleton alleged.
He said the girl who shot Mr Sacco was 15 at the time and could not be named outside the court because she was a minor. She came from the Italian-Irish community, as did the Saccos.
He told the jury they should not bring any prejudices they might have into the case. They must find Mrs Sacco not guilty unless the prosecution proved beyond reason able doubt that she was guilty of murder.
Franco Sacco was Anna Maria's first cousin once removed, the first cousin of her father, the court heard. They had married two years before Franco's death and ran a fast-food takeaway in Rathfarnham village.
Mr Charleton said he did not know whether the Saccos were having problems in their marriage, but there were dozens of people coming into the courts every day to resolve their problems "in a civilised way".
"They do not take up a loaded shotgun nor do they direct a young girl to do so on their behalf," he said.
He claimed the evidence would show Franco Sacco died some time in the morning of March 20th, and that that afternoon Mrs Sacco, with others, was "attempting to clean up the scene and to formulate a plan to cover up the truth".
He alleged Anna Maria Sacco gave the 15-year-old girl a loaded shotgun and got her to go upstairs and shoot her husband.
In evidence, Garda Ronan Walden told the jury that at 7:26 p.m. on the night of March 20th, a young girl accompanied by another woman arrived in a "very distressed" state at the hatch in the public office of Rathfarnham Garda station. As a result gardai went to the house at Coolamber Park.
He agreed with Mr Barry White SC that what the girl said did not in any way relate to the accused, but related solely to herself and her actions. In relation to the shotgun, there was a comment made that she did not know that it was loaded, he said.
Garda Jim Murphy told Mr White the girl had said: "I shot Franco."
Sgt Patrick Normile, a garda at the time, said he went to Mr Sacco's home.
He said he and another officer donned gloves and peeled back the clothing wrapped around Franco Sacco's body in the bedroom, where he also noticed a heavily blood-stained mattress.
The bathroom toilet bowl had shotgun pellets and red staining in it, he said, and in the bath there was a sponge with some human tissue on it.
He told the jury he informed Anna Maria Sacco of her husband's death when she arrived at the house at 8:50 p.m. She became hysterical, he said, while her sister began to say, "No, no, no," banged her head against the door and started kicking it.
Sgt John Burn, now retired, said he saw "signs of carnage" when he entered the main bedroom of the house. "I saw a figure wrapped in bedclothing in mummy fashion," he said.
The wrapping included an electric blanket, duvet covers and sheets, with another piece of clothing tied around that bundle.
Sgt Burn said he was "surprised" to find the body was still warm. "There was a large cavity where the top of the head had been," he added.
When he checked the rest of the upstairs area he saw "great efforts" had been made to clean up any surfaces with blood on them.
He agreed with Mr White that in his statement of evidence he described "a gore-soaked pillow". He did not agree that he was given to "flowery language," as the defence suggested.
He agreed that the word "carnage" normally described a scene where there was more than one body, but said this was the word he used at the time to describe the scene.
Garda Kieran Prior said that a crowd had gathered at the scene by the time Ms Anna Maria Sacco arrived home. He said she told him that when she went to the chip shop in Rathfarnham she found it closed, and she had been ringing home to check with Franco but got no reply.
A local scene of crime examiner, Det Garda Damien Scanlan, gave evidence that he took photographs of an "under-and-over" double-barrelled shotgun found unloaded and in its case in a linen cupboard under the stairwell. It was a sporting weapon used for grouse or pigeon shooting, the jury heard.
Det Garda Scanlan agreed with Mr White that the gun had not been fingerprinted before he opened the case to take photographs of it.
He also photographed a red shotgun cartridge found between the wall of a refrigerated cold room and the back wall of the kitchen area of the takeaway restaurant run by Franco and Anna Maria Sacco in Rathfarnham village.
The official Garda photographer, Det Garda Martin Allen, told Mr White that it was "possible" that if two plastic bags he photographed in the main bedroom had been there on the 20th, they would be visible in photographs taken by Det Garda Scanlan that night.
Pressed by Mr White, he agreed it was true that the bags would have been visible in the photographs of the 20th, as would a pair of trousers found on the floor in the bedroom.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Smith and the jury.