The trial of a man accused of murdering his Irish born wife and mother of their six children was told today that the couple's marriage was in difficulty.
Anton Mulder (44) of Maelduin, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath and originally from South Africa pleaded not guilty to the murder, but guilty to the manslaughter of his wife Colleen Suzanne Mulder.
She was found dead in the bedroom of their house at the same address on December 17th 2004.
In his opening statement at the Central Criminal Court today Mr Gerard Clarke SC told the court that the State's case was that Mr Mulder strangled his wife with his hands in a bed sometime around 10am that morning.
The couple, who had married in South Africa in 1985, had been experiencing marital difficulties, and prior to her death they had been sleeping in separate beds.
In the early 1990s they moved to Bangor, Co Down where Mrs Mulder was originally from before she and her family moved to South Africa in 1970.
The couple's six children, four girls and two boys are aged between twenty and three years of age.
In 2002 the family moved to Co Meath after the accused was appointed a regional manager with the fast food chain Kentucky Fried Chicken.
The victim's sister, Ann Czerepowicz, told the court that Mrs Mulder returned to where their mother lives in Bangor in late 2004 because of their marital difficulties.
Mr Mulder met her in Belfast after she returned to the North, Mrs Czerepowicz said, and told her that he loved her and was concerned that she was suffering from depression.
The witness said she felt Mr Mulder was trying to find out what his wife's intentions were in relation to custody of their children.
Under cross examination from counsel for Mr Mulder, Mr Roddy O'Hanlon SC, the witness said that she was not aware that her late sister had an affair with a man called Johan. She said Mrs Mulder had told her that Johan was a good friend.
The witnesses also said her sister had a miscarriage in July of 2004. After that Mrs Mulder's attitude to her husband changed.
After spending some time in Bangor Mrs Mulder returned to Dunshaughlin that December, intending to stay there over the Christmas period.
Andrea Pollock, Mrs Mulder's sister-in-law said the dead woman was like a second mother to her children. She told the court that she found a mobile phone, a tape and a note belonging to the dead woman in the house in Dunshaughlin a few days after the incident took place.
She said that the contents of the note shocked her, and she gave the items to the Gardai.
Garda Derek Halligan said he went to the scene with Garda June McGuire after a woman called to Dunshaulglin Garda station. The pair were let in by the accused.
Mr Mulder, who was very upset at the time, pointed up the stairs and said, "She is up there."
The gardai found his wife lying on a bed in an upstairs bedroom.
Garda Halligan later spoke to Mr Mulder who told him that, "it was an argument with verbal abuse. I grabbed her around the neck and told her to shut up and leave me alone."
Garda McGuire said there was bruising around the victim's neck when they discovered her.
The trial before Justice Philip O'Sullivan and a jury of 10 men and two women, is expected to last two weeks and is due to resume tomorrow.