A man accused of murdering his wife at their home in Co Meath told gardaí he had grabbed her around the neck during an argument, a jury at the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday.
Anton Mulder (46), Maelduin, Dunshaughlin, but originally from Durban in South Africa, denies murdering his Irish-born wife Colleen Suzanne Mulder on December 17th, 2004.
Garda Derek Halligan told prosecuting counsel Gerry Clarke SC that he had gone to the Mulder home after a woman had come to the Garda station in a very distressed state.
When he arrived at the house, he could see through the window into the front room. Mr Mulder was sitting with his back to the window with a small child on his knee.
Garda Halligan said it took Mr Mulder some time to answer the door and he was visibly upset. He gestured up the stairs and said: "She's up there."
The garda said that after he and a colleague had discovered the body of Ms Mulder in bed upstairs, Mr Mulder told him he had argued with his wife.
Garda Halligan said he cautioned Mr Mulder who said: "I just grabbed her around the neck and told her to shut up and leave me alone."
Ms Mulder's sister, Ann Czerepowicz, told Mr Clarke she was aware her sister's marriage had been in difficulty. Colleen had met her husband in South Africa in the 1980s, after the family had emigrated from Bangor, Co Down, in 1970. They quickly married and their first child was born soon after.
Ms Czerepowicz said Mr Mulder followed Colleen's brother back to Bangor because he couldn't find work in South Africa in the early 1990s. Eventually, after several difficult years, Mr Mulder started working for Kentucky Fried Chicken and rose through the company ranks.
By 2002 he had been promoted to regional manager for the Dublin region and the family moved to a rented house in Dunshaughlin, Co Meath. By this time they had six children.
Ms Czerepowicz said she was aware that by 2004 her sister was unhappy and she had learned on a visit to the house that the Mulders no longer shared a bedroom. In November 2004, Colleen moved back to Bangor.
Ms Czerepowicz said she had accompanied her sister to the Citizens' Advice Bureau as well as to see a solicitor, and to the South African embassy, because Colleen was unsure of her rights concerning the children.
She agreed with Roderick O'Hanlon SC, defending, that her sister hid the fact that she wanted custody of the children from her husband as she was afraid he would take them out of the country, but she said Colleen had denied she was having an affair with a family friend.
Ms Czerepowicz said she did not have much to say to her brother-in-law and was surprised when he phoned her and asked to speak to her urgently about her sister.
She said he told her Colleen was having some kind of mental breakdown and might have been taking drugs. He also told her that Colleen was eating nothing but ice cubes. She said Mr Mulder had also been uncharacteristically polite when she visited the house in Meath in October 2004.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins and a jury of 10 men and two women.