A jury at the Central Criminal Court has been shown photos of human remains wrapped in black plastic sheeting located in a “grave site” under the floor of the home of a man charged with the murder of his wife.
The remains, which the jury heard were the decomposed remains of Tina Satchwell, were discovered during a forensic search of the property in Youghal on October 11th 2023, more than six years after her husband Richard reported her missing.
Detective Garda Mairead Crowley, a Garda photographer, told the jury on Friday she had taken photos on October 11th of the remains in what she referred to as “a grave site” under the sitting room floor.
Fern, a cadaver dog trained to locate human remains, had the previous day shown “huge interest” in a red brick wall area under a stairs located in the centre of the sitting room, Alan Ward, a specialised victim recovery search dog handler, said in a statement read to the court.
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Fern was unable to get at the base of the wall because it was obstructed by a settee and other items and clutter, Mr Ward said. He and Fern returned the following day, October 11th, the items were removed and Fern became “very active” and interested in the area under the wall, indicating the presence of human remains under the second step of the stairs.
On October 12th, he and Fern were asked to return to the scene and the dog went into “full freeze” at something wrapped in black plastic, indicating the presence of human remains, he said.
Friday was the seventh day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court of Mr Satchwell (58) who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his 45-year-old wife Tina at their home at No 3 Grattan Street, Youghal, on March 19th and 20th 2017 inclusive.
The jury was shown a video of the interior of the house taken by Det Gda Crowley on October 10th 2023. They also saw photos taken by Det Gda Crowley on dates from October 10th to October 13th 2023, including of the human remains wrapped in black plastic sheeting.
The witness told Brendan Grehan SC, for Mr Satchwell, there was evidence of animals, including dog faeces and dog bowls, around the house, and a parrot had been removed.
There was an “awful lot of articles” in the living room, including a concrete mixer, and there was “a big operation” to clear the house for the search, she said.
Earlier on Friday, the jury finished watching a long Garda interview with Mr Satchwell recorded on October 10th 2023 in which he reiterated previous statements that he went to Dungarvan on the morning of March 20th 2017 and, when he returned home about 12.30/12.45pm, his wife was not there.
During that interview, he said his wife’s personality changed following the death of her brother by suicide in 2012. She would say: “I’ll fucking leave you, I fucking hate you, I’ll fucking leave you” and then she would apologise, he said.
That made him feel “not good, miserable”, he said. He and his wife “never touched sexually again” after her brother’s death and that made him feel “useless”, he said.
Asked about his having said his wife was violent to him, he said he did not regard “slaps” from a woman as violence. “A slap from a woman can be sexy, it might make me weird,” he said. He said he never hit his wife and he has “rules”, including not hitting or cheating on your partner.
What he regarded as violence from his wife was being hit in the head, punched, having more than 30 bite marks on his back, he said. He said the last time his wife did anything physical to him was with a lamp around Christmas 2016. When it was in the news about women being violent towards men, she had stopped, he said.
During another interview, on October 11th 2023, Mr Satchwell was shown photos taken by gardaí inside his home while the forensic search of it was still underway. Asked about a photo of a cubby hole, he said that was “under the stairs”. Asked did he know what was in behind a hole shown in one photo, he indicated he did not.
The trial resumes on Monday before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of seven women and five men.
