A mother of two who killed her husband with a shotgun she had bought him a week earlier should not be jailed so she could continue caring for her children, her defence lawyer said yesterday.
The Central Criminal Court heard that Norma Cotter (36) shot her husband, Gary, a corporal in the Army, after a drunken row in January 1995.
Mr Justice Peart said he would consider his sentence over the weekend and deliver it on Monday morning.
The court heard that the couple had gone out drinking with friends, but Mr Cotter (40) had left and returned to their home in Broomfield West, Midleton, Co Cork, at 1.30 a.m.
Another more serious row started between the couple over who would pick up their young son from his grandparents, and Cotter fired two shots, one into a wall and one into her husband's side, the court heard.
She then walked to a neighbour's house in a zombie-like state, surrendered the gun and gave herself up to gardaí.
Cotter had been found guilty of her husband's murder in an earlier trial, but the finding was quashed in the Court of Criminal Appeal.
She had pleaded not guilty to her husband's murder and was to be tried this week, but the jury was discharged on Tuesday when she pleaded guilty to manslaughter, which was accepted by the prosecution.
Mr Patrick MacEntee SC, defending, told the court there was evidence that Mr Cotter had been drinking whiskey that night and this often meant a black eye for his wife.
He told Mr Justice Peart that Cotter had already served almost three years in prison and had suffered tremendous grief and remorse over what she had done.
Arguing for a non-custodial sentence, Mr MacEntee said: "She's a loving person. She's already suffered great punishment. Mrs Cotter is to this day devastated at the possibility of losing her association with her children."
Mr MacEntee said the link between mother and daughter was particularly important.