A Dublin bookkeeper never denied killing his wife when questioned by gardai, a detective alleged at a murder trial yesterday. Det Garda James Hanley also denied inventing interview notes after questioning the accused man, Mr Paul O'Donohoe.
Cross-examined by Mr Hugh Harnett SC, he also denied failing to record Mr O'Donohoe's "very clear denials". He agreed Mr O'Donohoe denied buying vodka for his wife on the weekend she died and telling his friend, Ms Debra O'Connell, he planned to kill her.
He said he joined the Garda Technical Bureau in 1980, and believed media references to the bureau as the "Heavy Gang' related to the 1970s.
He agreed the Special Criminal Court had criticised his interview methods when questioning Ms Venessa Meehan during the investigation into the murder of Ms Veronica Guerin.
Mr Harnett read from statements made by Paul and Miriam O'Donohoe's daughter, Nadine (11), and seven-year-old son, Barry, who both said their father was with them for most of the weekend of Miriam's death and left them for an hour to buy a pizza on Saturday afternoon. Barry said he slept in his father's room that weekend.
Nadine recalled their father brought them back to their mother's house on Sunday at about 8.20 p.m. She noticed that the side gate was knocked over and the back door was open. They followed him to the back bedroom and he told them to get out quickly.
"I thought someone was in there," Nadine told gardai. Her father called an ambulance. Mr Harnett also read from statements made by Ms Louise Farrell and Ms Catherine Boland, who said they saw an Indian man walking out of the house on Sunday, January 26th, 1997.