Sgt Daithí Cronin gave evidence that Margaret Zsiga had approached a number of priests in 2005 in the locality, begging and looking for alms, and she approached Fr Brendan Lawless, who gave her €40 or €50.
Over a number of months she arrived at his house on several occasions begging, and he gave her small amounts of money.
Then on September 18th, 2005, she called to his home at 4.50pm with a bottle of wine. She was carrying a bag with a hole in it which concealed a video camera inside. She offered the parish priest sexual favours while they were in the sitting room and he told her he was not interested.
Sgt Cronin said Mrs Zsiga, a Traveller, then offered the priest some wine but he refused to take it. He went upstairs to his bedroom, where he sat on the bed and removed his shoes. Mrs Zsiga arrived upstairs in the bedroom a short time later.
"She was carrying the bag with a camera covertly hidden in it, videoing the situation. While the bag was not found by gardaí, we did locate the video. Unfortunately, the video camera had slipped inside in the bag and we only had audio on the tape to show as evidence of what happened in the bedroom," Sgt Cronin said.
"Why do you say 'unfortunately?'" Judge Raymond Groarke asked. Sgt Cronin said the injured party did not want to have a sexual affair with the woman. He asked her to leave the house and she did.
The following Tuesday, Sgt Cronin said, the woman phoned the victim and told him she had a video of them in the bedroom. She demanded €14,500 from him or else, she said, she would give the tape to the press and "go public" with the tape.
He agreed to pay her and arranged to meet her in a car park in Galway on September 28th, where he handed over a cheque for €14,500. Three days later, when the cheque had cleared, Mrs Zsiga gave him a tape.
At the end of January 2006 she arrived at his house again, claiming she wanted to start a new life in England and he gave her €650 for the cost of her family's travel there.
Then, the following April, Mrs Zsiga rang the priest to say she was in Romania to identify the body of her murdered husband and she was stranded with no money to get back to England. He sent her €600 via Western Union.
On June 29th, 2006, he met her on Main Street, Portumna. On this occasion, she said she needed financial help to set up a business in Romania and she wanted €10,000. He refused to pay and she threatened him that she had a video tape in her bag which did show him and would incriminate him. "There was no money handed over at that stage," Sgt Cronin said.
The witness said Petre Zsiga's involvement had been there all along. When Mrs Zsiga left the priest's house on September 18th, 2005, the audio on the camera was still recording and she could be heard discussing the incident with her husband in a car. "He was aware at all times of what was happening," Sgt Cronin said.
The court was told Mr Zsiga claimed he instigated the blackmail perpetrated by his wife.
The judge asked Geri Silke, for Mrs Zsiga, if her client still wished to maintain she had a sexual relationship with the victim. Ms Silke said her client had instructed her that she was very adamant she did not have a sexual relationship with the victim.