Mrs Catherine Nevin told staff at Jack White's Inn that none of them could stay on the night her husband was shot dead, her trial heard yesterday. Mrs Nevin is accused of the murder of her husband, Mr Tom Nevin. A former worker at the inn, Ms Liz Hudson, of Barndarrig, Co Wicklow, said this had never happened before. Ms Hudson also told the trial that "Judge O Buachalla" was well known on the premises and at one stage had a set of keys to the premises. Ms Hudson is the first former worker at the inn to b give evidence since Monday, when the jury heard from Ms Jane Murphy, of Redcross, Co Wicklow, who was a cleaner at the inn from 1987 until the shooting. Ms Murphy's evidence was that "the judge from Arklow" had visited and stayed there.
Ms Hudson told Mr Peter Charleton SC, prosecuting, she began working in Jack White's Inn in 1991. She said staff at the inn would generally go to a disco on bank holiday Mondays and "they all came back and stayed in Jack White's, because some of the staff stayed there anyway". She or another worker, Ms Bernie Fleming, would be given a set of keys to let staff back in, if the chef, Mr Alan McGraynor, was not there with his.
Only on the night of the St Patrick's weekend bank holiday in 1996 were staff not let back in. She recalled Mrs Nevin asking them where they were staying. Some said they wanted to return to the inn, as was usual. "Catherine [Nevin] said, there is no one, and I mean no one, staying here tonight," the witness recalled.
Ms Hudson said Mr Nevin normally turned the mortice key in the front door after the last customer left.
Asked about former Garda inspector Tom Kennedy being in and around the premises, she said he was there "most days". Most mornings he would be there, sometimes he would have his breakfast and go away and come back, she said. She said she thought Tom and Catherine Nevin had "more of a business-type relationship".
"She would have her friends in, Tom would never have anybody in," she said. "As far as we could see like, she was having affairs."
Asked if she was speaking from her own personal knowledge, she said, "I am speaking for myself, yes, as far as I could see".
Ms Hudson's evidence was twice interrupted for legal argument held in the absence of the jury.
She was later asked about her set of keys to the inn, which Mrs Nevin asked for a loan of one night. Mr Charleton told the witness that without saying who had the set, could she tell the court why Mrs Nevin wanted hers. "Because somebody else had her set of keys," she said.
"And I think that was somebody who was well known on the premises," said Mr Charleton. "That's right. Judge O Buachalla," Ms Hudson said.
She told the jury that before going to the disco on the night of Mr Nevin's death, she was sitting in the pub having a drink, when Mrs Nevin came in and said, "Liz, there is 15 minutes left in the washing machine." That was about 11.15 p.m., she said.
She said Mrs Nevin was "up and down the hallway a lot" that night. About 20 minutes after the remark about the washing, Ms Hudson said she went down to unload the machine but found there was nothing in it, and the cloths were still in the bucket.
She also told the court of the curtains in what was known as the "old restaurant" on the premises. "The curtains were always left open but on that particular night they were drawn."
She told how she would normally ring for a fresh vegetable order at night time. On the night of the murder, she was on the phone to the vegetable supplier when the defendant asked what she was doing. "I said, ringing in the vegetable order. She said `leave it to tomorrow'. "
It was the 15th day of the trial of Mrs Nevin (48), who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of her husband, Mr Tom Nevin (54), on March 19th, 1996, in their home at Jack White's Inn, Ballinapark, near Brittas Bay, in Co Wicklow. She has also pleaded not guilty to charges that on dates in 1989, she solicited Mr John Jones, that in or about 1990 she solicited Mr Gerry Heapes and that on a date unknown in 1990 at St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, she solicited Mr William McClean, to murder her husband.
Mr Nevin died from a single shotgun blast to his right chest as he counted the pub takings in the kitchen in the early hours of the morning. More than £16,550 in cash was taken by his killers.
The prosecution has alleged that Mrs Nevin arranged for her husband to be shot in what would look like a botched robbery. They allege that she bore animosity towards her husband and wanted control of the business. She has denied the allegations.
Counsel for Mrs Nevin also denied an allegation from Mr McClean that she had an affair with him. Mr McClean had given evidence that the defendant asked him to get someone "to do a job" on Mr Nevin. He said she wanted it done because she would get "the insurance money, the lot, everything" and that they could get back together if he was party to it. Mr McClean said he told her "no fucking way" and left the hospital room where the alleged proposition took place.
Mr Paul Burns, on behalf of Mrs Nevin, put it to Mr McClean that "the bit about the insurance money was put in by you because it occurred to you that it would make your evidence more credible". Mr McClean disagreed. He also disagreed that his evidence was "simply a web of deception".
When it was put to him that "the supposed relationship with Mrs Nevin and the supposed conversation in the hospital . . . never happened", Mr McClean replied: "You're saying there was no relationship, is that correct?" Mr Burns said he was. Mr McClean said he disagreed.
The trial continues on Monday before Ms Justice Carroll and the jury.