It was only the slight sheen of sweat on his face that marked Mr Pat Gillane out from any other observer in the chilly courtroom yesterday afternoon. The Galway man, accused of soliciting two men to murder his wife, sat on the bench facing the jury dressed in a three-piece dark green suit, lime-green shirt and brightly-coloured tie.
His black shoes were buffed to a soft sheen.
Mr Gillane listened impassively during an hour of legal argument in the Dublin Circuit Criminal Court before the trial got under way at around 3 p.m.
He wore no wedding band on his left hand, but had a ring on his right hand.
Philomena Gillane's sister Bridie and two brothers waited outside the courtroom following an order by the judge that all witnesses be removed from the court until they were called.
As the jury of eight women and four men took their places across the courtroom from Mr Gillane he sat calmly.
When prosecuting counsel Mr Edward Comyn SC said the prosecution would prove that Mr Gillane approached two men to "do a murder for him", Mr Gillane looked into the middle distance, with his arms folded across his chest. "What this man wanted was that his wife, Mrs Philomena Gillane, would be murdered," Mr Comyn said. Mr Gillane breathed evenly and showed no reaction.
The defendant met his wife some time around 1991, continued Mr Comyn. At some stage Philomena brought him to the family home and it was then Mr Gillane "formed an attachment" with Philomena's sister, Bridie, he said.
Mr Gillane sat slightly forward and frowned at this. Mr Comyn continued that Philomena became pregnant and married Mr Gillane at Knock in April 1993.
Their baby was born the following August.
Even though he was married to Philomena, Mr Gillane "still had a sexual relationship" with her sister Bridie. By Christmas 1993 the family was in crisis, Mr Comyn said.
As a Garda technical officer went through a location map which forms part of the evidence in the case, Mr Gillane shifted on the hard bench and stretched his feet out in front of him. When the court rose he stood up and straightened his suit jacket. He slipped quietly upstairs past a large group of gardai, Bridie Gordon and her two brothers, who were waiting in the court lobby.
At 4.20 p.m. he came back downstairs to an empty lobby and walked quickly away from the courthouse.
