The teenage daughter of a man stabbed to death by his wife told a murder trial jury yesterday that her father was "the nicest man you could ever meet".
However, the 15-year-old told a Central Criminal Court jury that when her father was drunk her parents fought regularly. "They were always fighting when my dad would drink, and that was every day," she said.
Ms Caroline Comerford (37), of Tarahill Crescent, Rathfarnham, Dublin, denies the murder of her husband, Mr Peter Comerford (39), in their home at Carrickmount Drive, Rathfarnham, on August 9th, 1998.
The teenager, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said her parents' fights were "very physical". Giving evidence for the defence, she said her father hit her mother and that she stayed at her grandmother's house at weekends "mostly because I hated them fighting".
Giving evidence for the prosecution, the State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, said he was satisfied Mr Comerford died from shock and haemorrhaging caused by a single stab wound in the main vein to the heart.
He said the deceased was very drunk when he died and would have had problems standing up, but would not have been weak.
A prosecution witness, Dr Anthony Hooper, said that after examining the accused in custody he was satisfied she had received injuries "consistent with the history she had given me".
Previously, Mr Kenneth Mills SC, prosecuting, said the stabbing happened after a drunken row. Mr Comerford allegedly violently assaulted his wife and she "went to the kitchen, chose a knife and went upstairs" where Mr Comerford resumed his attack. Ms Comerford stabbed her husband twice in the legs and once in the back. She later put a duvet around him while he lay dying.
The jury will be sent today to consider its verdict.