Pelley admits she was planning a 'future' with Joe O'Reilly

It was the 14th day of the trial of Mr O'Reilly (aged 35) of Lambay View, Baldarragh, Naul, Co Dublin who has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife and mother of their two children, Rachel O'Reilly (aged 30), at the family home on October 4 2004.

Ms Pelley told prosecuting counsel Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that she used to work with Mr O'Reilly in the outdoor advertising company, Viacom.

She said that she had left the company by the time she met Mr O'Reilly again at a function in the Barge Pub in Portobello in January 2004.

She said other work colleagues were there and that she got talking to Mr O'Reilly.

Asked whether she kept in contact with him after the function, she said: "Yeah we sent jokes and texts and that kind of thing for a while."

She said the first time she met him was: "a couple of months later, or maybe a month later we met for lunch."

She said this encounter took place in The Templeogue Inn and that they met for lunch there a further 'two or three' times.

After this, they went to the cinema in the Liffey Valley Shopping Centre and met for lunch on another occasion.

It was after this, she said, that she "started up a relationship with him."

Asked what kind, she said: "a sexual one."

When Mr Vaughan Buckley asked her: "when did it become sexual?," she replied: "probably three or four months after the cinema."

Asked how often they would meet, she said: "weekly, maybe three or four times a week."

She said these meetings would normally take place in her house on Tuesdays, initially, and later on, on Saturdays also.

Asked whether she'd ever met Mr O'Reilly's wife, Rachel, she replied: "once, well I didn't meet her but I saw her once at a softball event."

Mr Vaughan Buckley then asked: "Did you think she knew?"

"I don't think so," she replied.

Asked what time he would come over to her house on Tuesdays, she replied: "it would depend if he was playing softball or not."

On Saturdays, she said he would meet her during the afternoon and then go home.

Mr O'Reilly said to her that the excuse he gave to Rachel was that he was 'working and possibly staying in the office.'

She also said they went on a trip lasting a couple of days to the country. "We went down to our family home in Wexford," she said.

Asked whether he ever discussed his marriage with her, she said: "he told me they had effectively split about one and a half years prior to my meeting him."

She said he also told her they had separate bedrooms.

Mr Vaughan Buckley then said: "did you ever meet her two sons?" She replied: "yes." Asked how many times, she said: "on a number of occasions." Asked when these meetings would take place, she said: "on Saturday afternoons."

She then went on to say that she would meet them 'at home' in Rathfarnham 'or we'd go to the zoo.'

She said Mr O'Reilly introduced her to the children as 'Nikki'. "Nikki- a friend," Mr Vaughan Buckley asked. She replied: "well, just Nikki."

She was also asked whether she'd ever stayed in the O'Reilly house in the Naul, to which she replied: "I did, once." Asked when, she said: "one Friday."

She said Rachel was not there at the time and that she thought she may have been in the country.

Asked about a phone call she had with Mr O'Reilly the night before the murder, she said she remembered the call but she said she didn't remember him talking to her about Rachel.

She also remembered calling him around 5.45am the following morning, the day of the killing. However, she disagreed with Mr Vaughan Buckley that it was a 'long conversation.'

"I don't remember it to be that long a conversation…maybe 15 or 20 mins," she said.

And she also disagreed with him that that could be considered a lengthy phone call.

When asked about a later phone call she had with Mr O'Reilly at 8.12am, she said she couldn't remember that.

Mr Vaughan Buckley then asked her about witness statements she made to gardaí in the immediate aftermath of the murder on October 5 and 27 2004.

"Did you tell them the truth about your relationship?" he asked. "No, I told them it was just an affair," she said.

When asked whether she told them it was 'more than an affair' some time later, she replied: "I did."

Mr Vaughan Buckley then asked her why she didn't tell them this in the first place, she said: "I don't know, I just did."

Asked whether Mr O'Reilly had suggested this to her, she said: "no, he just said he told them it was an affair and he wanted me to do the same."

She said Mr O'Reilly never gave her a reason for this.

Asked whether they ever discussed their futures, she said: "we talked about things, yes." She added: "We talked about a future, about being together."

Asked to clarify whether these discussions included plans for 'being together permanently,' she said: "we talked about it, yes."

Referring to Mr O'Reilly's children, she said he told her where they ended up was one of two choices. "It was two choices. The children either stay with Joe or stay with Rachel."

She said Mr O'Reilly told her he: "would have preferred full custody but would have settled for joint custody."

Mr Vaughan Buckley then proceeded to ask her about two halves of a credit card.

She was handed the exhibit in the witness box and requested to put them together. Asked to tell the court what it read, she said: "Ms Nikki P Reilly."

She said 'either myself or Joe' did it and that it was 'for fun.' "It was just a joke, fun," she explained.

After this, she was asked to recall the names by which Mr O'Reilly referred to his wife. She said he 'normally' called her 'Rach or Rachel.'

However, she revealed he used to call her other names also. "Wasp would be one," she said, adding: "or the words c**t."

Asked what she thought about these names, she said: "it wasn't a term he would use often."

She said she was aware they had rows but that she thought they were "routine, run of the mill arguments."

Mr Vaughan Buckley then returned to the day of the murder and asked her about her conversations with him that day. She again repeated that Mr O'Reilly did not speak to her about any arguments he had had with Mrs O'Reilly.

At about 3.15 that afternoon, she found out that Mrs O'Reilly's dead body had been found.

She said she then phoned Mr O'Reilly. "He said to me that Rachel was dead- that he was with the police and 'I'll call you later'," she said.

When Ms Pelley took to the witness box after lunch, Mr Vaughan Buckley again returned to the subject of why Mr O'Reilly wanted her to play down their relationship to gardai.

He asked her to explain the reason why she thought Mr O'Reilly told her to say they were only having an affair.

She replied: "because if it was a relationship it would be seen to give him a motive to kill Rachel."

He also asked her about Mr O'Reilly's appearance on the Late Late Show on 22nd October. She said she saw the show and that he spent the night with her afterwards.

Returning again to the subject of their telephone conversation the night before the murder, Mr Vaughan Buckley asked her whether she could recall what was it about. She told him: "It was a general a 'good night' conversation- nothing specific."

Defence counsel Mr Patrick Gageby SC had no questions for Ms Pelley and Mr Justice Barry White thanked her.

The trial before a jury of nine men and two women continues tomorrow.