An assistant Garda Commissioner told the Catherine Nevin murder trial jury yesterday that Mrs Nevin told him she had been trussed up by armed raiders before she freed herself and raised the alarm on the night her husband, Tom, was shot dead.
He said she alleged her husband was an alcoholic who had beaten her up, causing her to be hospitalised on one occasion, and that she had not thought to look for him after the raiders left the premises.
Mrs Nevin (48) denies the murder of her husband Tom (54) on March 19th, 1996, in their home at Jack White's Inn, Ballinapark, near Brittas Bay, Co Wicklow. She has also denied soliciting three named men to kill him in 1989 and 1990.
In the Central Criminal Court before Miss Justice Carroll, Assistant Commissioner Jim McHugh said he arrived at the murder scene at 9:30 a.m.
He told Mr Peter Charleton SC, prosecuting, that after a cursory examination of the scene, he went to the sitting room in the Nevins' dwelling house, introduced himself to Mrs Nevin and expressed his condolences.
"She conveyed the impression that she was deeply shocked and traumatised," he said. "She spoke in a very low voice." When he asked what had happened, she said she was awakened by a "hooded man" who had a knife in his hand and was pushing her head into the pillow. The man was saying "where's the jewellery, where's the f...ing jewellery?.. I'll kill you".
The witness asked her how much money might have been taken. She told him it depended on whether Mr Nevin had made a lodgement in a bank in Wicklow the previous Friday, when he drove her to a doctor's appointment.
"If the lodgement had been made, the amount that would have been made available to the raiders would have been significantly reduced," Assistant Commissioner McHugh told counsel. Mrs Nevin told him that, excluding the lodgement, there would have been £2,000 sterling belonging to Mr Nevin, a further £1,850 of hers, and an additional £4,000, all kept in the floor safe in the storeroom.
She asked if she could see Mr Nevin's remains but the witness refused, telling her this would be interfering with a crime scene, though he assured her she would be facilitated later.
Assistant Commissioner McHugh said he returned to Jack White's Inn on March 23rd, 1996, with Det Garda James Hanley, and again spoke to Mrs Nevin. He said she talked about her husband being a chain smoker and that he smoked about 60 cigarettes a day. "She also said that he used to drink about a litre of spirits on a daily basis," he said.
Mrs Nevin also made clear that "she was determined that she wouldn't be driven out of business" and "was sending that message very strongly, that she wasn't going to be driven out", he said. She referred to the raiders as "the animals that killed Tom".
The Assistant Commissioner said he also spoke to Mrs Nevin alone in a room in Arklow Garda station on a later date. She told the gardai she and Mr Nevin bought the pub for £260,000 and paid another £16,000 in legal fees and stamp duties. A built-on conservatory cost £37,000, and this was paid back in "nearly a season", though Mr Nevin had forecast it would take 7-10 years.
"She said that Tom didn't have a great brain but what he did have, he used to great effect."
She said Mr Nevin was not involved in any relationship and that, as far as she was concerned, while she had some male friends, she was not involved intently with them.
A forensic scientist, Dr John McCullough, confirmed that swabs taken from Mrs Nevin's hands, face and clothing, and from the clothing and belongings of her husband, revealed nothing of forensic value.
The trial continues on Monday.