Murdered accused caught wife kissing other man, court told
A woman whose husband is on trial for her murder disappeared after her husband caught her kissing another man a Central Criminal Court jury has heard.
Bus driver, John O’Brien (41) with an address in Ballinakill Downs, Co Waterford denies murdering 35-year-old Meg Walsh on a date between October 1 2006 and October 15 2006.
In his opening speech prosecuting counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC told the jury of seven men and five women that Ms Walsh was last seen on October 1, 2006. Her body was recovered from the River Suir two weeks later. She had died from severe blunt force trauma to the head and had also received blunt force trauma on her shoulders and right arm.
He said they would hear that she had been drinking with her husband and another man, Owen Walsh at the bar of the Woodlands Hotel on the night of September 30.
The three left the hotel at around 4am and went back to the house Ms Walsh shared with the accused. There they continued drinking and Mr Walsh accepted an invitation to stay over.
Mr Buckley told the jury they would hear that, as she was showing him the room where he would be sleeping Ms Walsh kissed Mr Walsh goodnight and he returned the kiss.
Mr O’Brien came into the room and asked what was going on. Mr Walsh told him “It was nothing. It’s just the drink” but Mr O’Brien ordered him out of the house. Mr Buckley told the jury that Mr Walsh would tell them there was aggression in the accused’s voice when he ordered him out of the house.
He said that from the time Mr O’Brien said she left the house at around 8.30p.m on October 1 until her body was recovered October 15; he never reported his wife missing, suggested where she could be or gave gardaí any help to find her.
Mr Buckley said he told gardaí: “She went before. She stayed in Jurys Hotel and came back the following day.
He said that Mr O’Brien told gardaí Ms Walsh’s passport was missing but gardai searching the house found it in the top draw of her bedside cabinet.
Mr Buckley told the jury they would hear from Ms Walsh’s best friend, Ms Laura Cuddihy, who would tell them that she did not receive replies to text messages she sent Ms Walsh on the morning of October 1. She repeatedly rang Ms Walsh’s phone that evening but couldn’t get any answer.
Eventually she and her partner, together with two other men, walked to the house in Ballinakill Downs. Ms Walsh’s car wasn’t there but Mr O’Brien’s was. Ms Cuddihy would say that she dropped a note into the house which read “How’re ya? Hope you’re well. Called coz your phone is off. Text me.”
The note was later found ripped up in a wheelie bin. Mr Buckley said Ms Walsh’s car was found abandoned on October 4 in a local hotel carpark Forensic tests found blood staining to the inside of the car, the boot and the bumper. DNA testing matched the blood to Ms Walsh and a mixed profile which contained elements found in Mr O’Brien’s profile.
A car mat found abandoned in the area was found to be stained with Ms Walsh’s blood. Car keys given to the gardaí by Mr O’Brien were found to be not the spares he said they were but the main keys with a fob to unlock the car. Mr Buckley said CCTV footage of the car being left showed that the car was locked using a key fob although the quality was not good enough to identify the person using the keys.
He said a second key was found by gardai without a key fob, which was found to be the spare key to Ms Walsh’s car. Mr Buckley told the jury they would be hearing from witnesses who had sold Ms Walsh the silver Mitsubishi Charisma who would testify that only two keys were supplied with the car.
He said Mr O’Brien also asked the garda Family Liaison Officer about the CCTV footage and whether it was possible to identify the person who locked the car. He said it was the State’s case that Meg Walsh did not drive her car to the carpark. Whoever killed her had disposed of the body before abandoning the car.
He told the jury they would also hear from Ms Walsh’s daughter from her first marriage, Sasha Keating, who would tell them that she received a phone call from Mr O’Brien on October 14th. He asked her if she was ok and when she asked if she could come round and collect her mother’s things, he paused for a couple of seconds then said “You can, you can.”
The trial is continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of seven men and five women. It is expected to last three weeks.
