Man stabbed ex-girlfriend to death, court hears
A Dublin man stabbed his ex-girlfriend to death because he could not tolerate her being in another relationship, a prosecution lawyer has alleged.
In addition to the charge of murdering his former girlfriend, Dubliner, Declan Burke is also accused of assaulting her mother with the same knife, causing her serious harm. He denies both charges.
In the Central Criminal Court today, the prosecution opened its case against Burke (29), with an address on the South Circular Road, Dublin 8, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Ms Jennifer Wilkinson (24) at her home in the Rise, Boden Park, Ballyboden, near Rathfarnham, Dublin on December 13 2000.
Burke has also denied stabbing Ms Mary Wilkinson (57) at the house in the Rise, Boden Park, on the same date.
Edward Comyn SC, prosecuting, told a jury of five women and seven men that the evidence would suggest that while the accused was reconciled to the break-up of his eight-year relationship with Jennifer Wilkinson, and was prepared to accept the role of a part-time father to their child, he was "not a person who was prepared to tolerate or put up with the fact that she would have another relationship".
That Ms Wilkinson had in fact begun a new relationship with another man may have given rise to the tragic events, Mr Comyn said.
But he told the jury that while the accused’s "very serious reservations" about her starting a new relationship may have been a motive for the alleged stabbing, the law does not require a motive to prove a charge of murder.
The prosecution evidence in the case has begun before the jury and Mr Justice White in the Central Criminal Court.
