A Tyrone man claimed in Enniskillen Crown Court in Co Fermanagh yesterday that he was attacked by a hooded man with a knife as he had sex with his wife in a field.
Mr Anthony Joseph Conlon of Clonmore Gardens, Omagh, is accused of raping and murdering his estranged wife, Fiona, near her Ballysaggart Park home at Dungannon on March 3rd/4th last year.
Ms Fiona Conlon drowned in a stream some 22 inches deep. She had a stab wound in her back which went five inches into her stomach. Mr Conlon told an RUC superintendent he was struck from behind as he lay on top of his wife. Supt Sproule read from a series of taped interviews with the defendant on the fifth day of the murder trial. Mr Conlon told the officer he went to his wife's home on March 3rd. He did not want to go into the house, fearing he would breach a barring order.
They met outside and went to a quiet part of the neighbourhood. They went to a nearby field with shrubbery.
Mr Conlon denied they had quarrelled. "We had a debate about the children . . . I asked how they were, and Fiona said we should go somewhere quieter for a proper talk. We walked on and had a conversation, and Fiona suggested we make love even though it was very cold."
Mr Conlon told the RUC he had full sex with his wife but an attacker came from behind. When Mr Conlon came around his wife was gone.