A 61-YEAR-old woman has been sentenced to life in prison after being found guilty of murdering her husband at their Westmeath home 23 years ago.
Vera McGrath had pleaded not guilty to murdering 43-year-old Bernard McGrath in Lower Coole between March 10th and April 18th, 1987. She admitted hitting him once during the killing and being involved in the burial, digging up, burning, chopping and reburial of his body.
On Friday, the Central Criminal Court jury found her former son-in-law Colin Pinder (47) of Liverpool guilty of Mr McGrath’s manslaughter but cleared him of murder. Yesterday the jury deliberated for another five hours, on the 27th day of the trial, before reaching a majority verdict of 10 to one.
This was the first murder conviction for the Garda Síochána’s serious crime review team. Det Supt Christy Mangan, who led the investigation, said it was significant for bereaved families and would give them hope. He said it was a complex investigation due to the passage of time, with some people unavailable to give evidence.
“It can be very difficult to get all the pieces of the jigsaw together in order to present it in a court for a prosecution,” he said. “It is difficult but it has been done in this case and we’re satisfied with what has taken place.” He said it was a joint investigation between the detectives in Granard, led by Det Insp Martin Cadden, and the serious crime review team.
“It’s as a result of the work done by both units that has brought this case to justice today,” he added.
He said the three McGrath brothers and their sister wanted justice for their father and that justice had been done. He said that although Brian McGrath died in 1987, he had been remembered now through the verdict.
He also thanked the people of Coole for their help during the 17-year investigation.
Present for the verdict was one of McGrath’s sons and her daughter, who was instrumental in her conviction. Vera McGrath shook and her partner Michael Gavin, cried as the judge handed down the mandatory life sentence.
Her co-accused, Colin Pinder, will be sentenced on November 1st. Veronica McGrath was the trial’s chief prosecution witness but Mr Justice John Edwards warned the jury to treat her as an accomplice as she was an accessory after the fact.
“My mother said to Colin that he wouldn’t be man enough to kill my father,” she claimed on her first of four days in the witness box.
“He said that he had the very thing and produced a spanner. He said that one blow of this would be enough.”
She said all four walked back to the McGrath home, where her three brothers, Andrew, Brian and Edward were sleeping. She said her mother had gone in a window of the locked house when Pinder hit her father’s head with the spanner, knocking him to the ground. She said her mother came back out with more tools.
She said her father pleaded for mercy as Pinder repeatedly hit him.
Ms McGrath said her mother also hit her father that night.