A Co Kildare woman has been acquitted by a Dublin 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."
Ms Nicola Brereton (41), Church Street, Kilcock, who had pleaded not guilty to the manslaughter on September 14th, 2001, of John Smullen (52), 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 jury service for the next five years.
The jury had heard from Ms Brereton that Mr Smullen had been "a very violent man" who abused her several times during their relationship. He had tried to force her to have sex with him the night of the killing 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 her head and had threatened to "crack open her skull".
"I didn't know the knife would plunge into him." She said her intention was just to nick him in order to get away from him.