A CONSULTANT anthropologist told the Central Criminal Court yesterday that she found one human bone at the McGrath home in Co Westmeath in May 2008, after a cold case review team decided the garden should be searched again.
Laureen Buckley said the bones found in 1993 were exhumed from a cemetery and she examined all the remains with State Pathologist Prof Marie Cassidy.
Vera McGrath (61) is pleading not guilty to murdering 43-year-old Bernard Brian McGrath at their home in Lower Coole, Westmeath on a date between March 10th and April 18th, 1987.
Her former son-in-law, Colin Pinder (47), Liverpool, England, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter.
Ms Buckley said: “About 50 per cent of the skeleton was recovered.” This was assuming Mr McGrath was a slightly built man.
She said that she was able to tell that the bones came from a male by the pronounced brow ridge.
She explained that bone is brownish in colour but turns black when heated by fire. It turns grey and finally white when completely burnt. The bones she examined varied from unburnt to completely cremated, she said.
Dr Cassidy said she could not determine a cause of death from the bones, which were fragmented. She could not say when most of the bones had been broken, pointing out that it could have happened during life or even during exhumation.
However, she said that one half of the lower jaw was unburnt and the other half was badly burnt, showing that it had been fractured before the fire.
She said the right eye socket might also have been detached from the rest of the skull prior to burning as one part was fire-damaged and the other was not.
Mr Justice John Edwards discharged one juror, who has booked a holiday starting this weekend. The jury had been told the trial would last about three weeks when sworn in on June 14th. The trial will now continue with 11 jurors.
Also yesterday, Garda Rita Gilmartin, who was acting as the prisoner’s chaperone in Mullingar Garda station gave evidence
Garda Gilmartin said that the mother-of-four asked to see her on the morning of November 12th, 1993, after spending the night in custody.
She said the prisoner spoke about her daughter and a possible reconciliation. The court already heard that it was Mrs McGrath’s daughter, Veronica, who told gardaí she had seen the two defendants kill her father.
The garda said that Mrs McGrath asked if “this (was) really, actually happening”. She said she told her that it was, and showed her the story in that day’s newspaper.
“She said it had been hard for her. Maybe life hadn’t turned out the way she wished,” recalled the garda. “I could maybe understand her situation.”
Mrs McGrath told her that she didn’t know if she could trust the gardaí interviewing her but felt she could trust Garda Gilmartin, she said.
“She said: ‘I think I’m ready now to tell my story’,” said the garda.
Garda Gilmartin agreed with Conor Devally SC, defending Mr Pinder, that she had put her arm around Mrs McGrath and held her hand that morning.
“I was upset listening to what had happened,” she said.
She explained she wanted to reassure Mrs McGrath that everything would be okay.