A 40-year-old man was remanded in custody yesterday after he was charged with the murder of his wife, whose body was found in the river Suir two weeks after she disappeared from their home in Waterford city.
Bus driver John O'Brien from Dunavarra, Ballinakill Downs, Waterford, was brought before Waterford District Court yesterday morning where he was charged with the murder of his wife, Meg Walsh.
Ms Walsh (35), of Killavullen in north Cork, was reported missing by colleagues when she failed to turn up for work at Meadowland Homes after a night socialising at the Woodland Hotel in Waterford on October 1st.
Her car, a silver Mitsubishi Carisma, was later discovered in the Uluru car park at Ardkeen near the entrance to Waterford Regional Hospital, close to Ms Walsh's home on the Dunmore East Road.
Gardaí launched a missing persons inquiry and were joined by members of the Civil Defence, the Defence Forces and a large number of civilian volunteers in carrying out searches near her home.
Ms Walsh's body was discovered two weeks later on October 15th in the river Suir, near Thomas Meagher Quay, in Waterford city.
Gardaí launched a murder investigation after a postmortem examination by State Pathologist Dr Marie Cassidy.
Yesterday at Waterford District Court, Insp John Hunt told how he arrested Mr O'Brien at his home.
He said he conveyed Mr O'Brien to Waterford Garda station where he charged him with murdering Ms Walsh on a date between October 1st and October 15th, 2006, at a place unknown within the State.
Mr O'Brien made no reply to the charge after caution.
Insp Mulligan said the State was seeking a remand in custody for a week, before Mr O'Brien's solicitor, Finola Cronin, said that while she could not make an application for bail in the District Court, she would be applying for bail at a later stage in the High Court.
Dressed in a grey shirt and jeans, Mr O'Brien spoke only to confirm to Judge William Harnett that he would be applying for free legal aid and that he would be seeking to have Ms Cronin assigned as his solicitor.
The judge noted Mr O'Brien's application and granted Insp Mulligan's application to remand Mr O'Brien in custody for a week to appear again at Waterford District Court next Friday.
The late Ms Walsh's brother, James, and her daughter from her first marriage, Sasha Keating - who is in her late teens - travelled from their homes in north Cork and were joined by about half-a-dozen family friends and supporters for Mr O'Brien's appearance in court.
Just yards away, Mr O'Brien's two sisters, who had accompanied him to Ms Walsh's funeral Mass at St Nicholas's Church in Killavullen, watched as their brother was charged during the brief two-minute hearing.