A civil servant in the Department of Justice has gone on trial at the Central Criminal Court for the murder of her husband at their Dublin home in 2002. Mother of two Ms Dolores O'Neill (50), pleads not guilty to the murder of Mr Declan O'Neill (46), at Coolamber Park, Knocklyon, Templeogue, on or about July 22nd, 2002.
Medical evidence would show Mr O'Neill suffered "repeated blows to the head" and died from a fractured skull.
The jury heard that when gardaí arrived at Coolamber Park they found the body of the deceased in the front bedroom "partially wrapped in a duvet". There was heavy blood staining on the mattress, the floor and the headboard. Garda Tim McCarthy told the court that gardaí located a blood-stained knife under a pillow and they also found a hammer in the bedroom.
The court heard that at the time of the killing, the accused woman was working for the Equality Authority. The deceased was a salesman with a construction plant company.
On the opening day of the trial yesterday, Ms O'Neill's sister, Ms Anne Hughes, told the jury that early on July 23rd, 2002, the accused arrived at her house in Ashford and almost "fell in the door".
She was in a distraught state and asked the witness to look after her two sons, who were in the car outside. Ms Hughes told Mr Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that her sister asked to speak to the witness's husband.
She told the court she noticed a mark on her sister's face like "a punch mark". She also noticed a reddish mark on her neck and later saw bruises on both her forearms.
When she asked what happened, Ms O'Neill said: "Declan had grabbed her by the neck . . . she said she slapped him to get him away and than he punched her. I could see the mark."
Cross-examined by defence counsel, Mr Felix McEnroy SC, she said she was aware that her sister was having marital difficulties. Two months before the killing, Ms O'Neill asked to meet her to discuss financial problems.
The witness told counsel she was aware that the mortgage was not being paid, and Ms O'Neill was worried about her sons' future.
She said Dolores told her Mr O'Neill had run up bills and the house had been re-mortgaged. When she broached the matter, he did not appear interested. The accused also believed he was seeing another woman.
"He'd been drinking quite a bit?" counsel suggested.
"Yes," the witness replied.
"And he'd run up a loan?" "That's right, yes." "There was a question of selling the family home?" "Yes, she said that."
Ms Hughes told the court the accused had said she hit her husband with a hammer that was underneath the bed. She then said: "If only I could rewind this." The witness said: "I could see a punch mark . . . I thought maybe she had a broken jaw."
She said her sister agreed the gardaí should be called. Asked how her sister appeared as she left with the gardaí, the witness replied: "She was like a defeated woman, rather than a battered woman. She looked hopeless . . . broken."
The trial before Mr Justice O'Higgins and a jury of nine women and three men continues today.