A Donegal mother of six admitted to gardai she had beaten her elderly male neighbour with a claw-hammer in the middle of the night. Injuries to the man's head were so severe they necessitated plastic surgery to replace skin on his scalp. Margaret McCole (43), of Magherard, Drung, Quigley's Point, Donegal, has denied attempting to murder Mr William Harrigan - who was 83 at the time of the assault - at his home in Magherard Lane, Drung, on May 9th, 1996.
On Tuesday, she pleaded guilty to causing Mr Harrigan grievous bodily harm with intent and to defrauding him of £2,700, part of £5,000 entrusted to her by Mr Harrigan, but intended to be given to his niece.
In the Central Criminal Court yesterday, Mr Harrigan was present to hear the doctor who examined him on the day of the assault say that he had received "extensive lacerations to the back of the scalp".
Dr Neville Couse, consultant surgeon attached to Letterkenny General Hospital, also noted bruising to the eyes and neck and multiple lacerations to the hands. He said the nail of one finger had been "torn off" and Mr Harrigan's right thumb was fractured.
Dr Denis Lawlor, a consultant plastic surgeon at St James's Hospital, told the court he had treated the "severe scalp defect". The significant thing about it, he said, was its depth. "It was right down to the bone".
As a result of his injuries, Mr Harrigan spent 182 days in hospital.
Gardai gave evidence of finding "substantial amounts of blood" on the floor, walls, fridge, cooker and ceiling of Mr Harrigan's kitchen.
Det Garda James Leheney told Mr Gregory Murphy SC, prosecuting, that when he first interviewed McCole on May 9th she had denied all knowledge of the attack and said she was alerted by a phone call from Mr Harrigan in the early hours of that morning.
Det Garda Leheney agreed with Mr Brendan Grogan SC, defending, the McCole family had cared for Mr Harrigan "in a very good way over the years, and in particular the accused, Mrs McCole".
McCole later told gardai they would find her blood in Mr Harrigan's house as she had cut her hand just prior to being called to his house.
When on May 11th 1996 Det Garda Leheney told McCole a wallet had been found in a litter-bin in Letterkenny shopping mall, she first denied she had put it there, and had then asked: "Are there cameras in the shopping centre?"
He agreed she had then "changed tack" and admitted putting the wallet in the litter-bin, but claimed she had found it outside Letterkenny Hospital.
McCole then told gardai she had taken it out of Willie Harrigan's house when she found it on the floor following the attack on him and thought "I might as well have it". She had removed the £340 it contained and dumped it in the bin.
At first McCole said Mr Harrigan had made a will in her favour in October 1995, but she retracted this in a later interview and said it had in fact been in December 1995.
In subsequent statements she admitted spending £4,980 out of £5,000 given to her by Mr Harrigan for safekeeping in the same month. She told Det Garda Leheney when Mr Harrigan's niece, Ms Betty Corr, arrived from the United States on May 2nd, 1996, she was worried that she didn't have the £5,000 for her.
On the day Ms Corr arrived, McCole said she applied for a personal loan of £5,000 from the First National Building Society in Moville.
She first told gardai she went to Mr Harrigan's house on the night of the attack to tell him about the missing money. "The problem was on my mind since the Yanks came home," she said.
But she later signed a statement admitting she had said nothing to Mr Harrigan before she assaulted him. She gave details of hitting her neighbour a number of times on the head. She said he had fallen to the floor, where she had hit him again on the head and on the hands.
"Willie became quiet and was still breathing", she said. "I did not intend to kill Willie. I am very sorry for what I have done", she told gardai.
McCole insisted she had acted alone and told gardai she did not want her husband or family to know of her actions. Det Garda Leheney said he was satisfied that she had acted alone.
A search party found the claw-hammer used in the assault over a ditch on the Carrickmaquigley Road, in a spot pointed out to them by McCole.
Det Garda Leheney told Mr Grogan he had no evidence of any motive for the crime other than the issue of the £5,000. Its absence, he said, "set this whole chain of events into motion".