A Kildare woman has been acquitted by a Circuit Criminal Court jury of unlawfully killing her partner of nine years by stabbing him with a steak knife.
"I did not mean to kill him," she had told the jury of nine men and three women on the penultimate day of her seven-day trial. "I just thought I had nicked him. I wish he was alive today."
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| Ms Nicola Brereton. Pic:Courtpix
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Ms Nicola Brereton (41), of Church Street, Kilcock, who had pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter on September 14th, 2001 of 52-year-old John Smullen also told the jury: "I loved him. I loved him till the day he died."
The jury deliberated for just over three hours before reaching the unanimous verdict that she was innocent of the charges.
Judge Frank O'Donnell thanked the jury for what he told its members to look upon as "an important service rather than an intrusion into their lives", and excused them from further jury service for the next five years.
The jury had heard in evidence from Ms Brereton that Mr Smullen had been "a very violent man" who abused her several times during their relationship. She also told the jury that he had tried to force her to have sex with him that night and had kneed her in the vagina several times when she refused.
She also said she had only struck out at him with a knife when he held a microphone stand over head and had threatened to "crack open her skull".
"I didn't know the knife would plunge into him." Her intention was just to nick him in order to get away from him, she said.