A co Mayo woman on trial for the murder of her baby daughter - who only admitted killing her 12 years later - partly blamed her husband's behaviour for what she had done, a jury in the Central Criminal Court heard yesterday.
Mrs Therese Ryan (41), of Tara Court Apartments, Saleen, Castlebar, Co Mayo, pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of her 15-month-old daughter, Elaine, on September 5th, 1985, in Westport, Co Mayo.
The jury heard that it took 14 years for the case to come to court because the only evidence of a crime having been committed came from the accused woman's own admissions.
Mrs Ryan's second-eldest child, Sandra, a baby girl, died four months before she smothered Elaine. She has three other children.
Mr Bruce Antoniotti SC, prosecuting, told the court that 12 years after the killing of Elaine, a "distressed and tearful" Mrs Ryan walked into a social worker's office and told her how she had smothered her baby with a pillow as she lay sleeping in her cot.
In evidence, Ms Raphaelle McCabe, a social worker with the Western Health Board, said that when she first interviewed Mrs Ryan on July 16th, 1996, she was crying and it was difficult to ascertain what was wrong. Ms McCabe said she formed the view that Mrs Ryan was suicidal and might need psychiatric treatment.
On July 17th, 1996, Mrs Ryan's mother admitted her to Castlebar General Hospital's psychiatric unit, where the social worker interviewed her again.
Mrs Ryan told her she loved her daughter, Elaine, and had coped with her daughter, Sandra, fine, "but had difficulty coping with her other child and her husband".
Mrs Ryan added: "I smothered Elaine" but it was meant for "the other child". She told the social worker: "I could not take it any more. Elaine was so quiet and good."
In written evidence, Dr John Connolly, chief psychiatrist at St Mary's Hospital, Castlebar, said Mrs Ryan had been admitted on a number of occasions since the killing for treatment for depression and alcohol abuse. When she was admitted to hospital after the death, it was for grief-related treatment.
Dr Gerard Solan, a consultant pathologist attached to Castlebar General Hospital, said he carried out a post-mortem on the dead baby and concluded "the mechanism of death was asphyxia". The baby was otherwise healthy and well-looked after, he told Mr Patrick Gageby SC, defending.
A sister of Mrs Ryan, Ms Rosaria Walsh, gave evidence that the defendant told her what she had done on July 18th, 1996. The reason she gave her was "the abuse of her husband, Sean Ryan, and the fact of Sandra's death".
Supt Malachy Mulligan said that in her statement Mrs Ryan told him that when she returned from working in England she continued a relationship with Sean Ryan and married him in March 1980.
At the time he was a moderate drinker, she said, but his drinking increased and from time to time he was violent. The violence would take the form of verbal abuse, but sometimes he would hit her. "I lived in constant fear of some kind of violence", she said.
After Elaine's death, she and her husband had two more children, before separating in 1996.
Earlier, Mr Sean Ryan denied that he had ever beaten his wife.
Admitting that he had an alcohol problem at the time of the killing, Mr Ryan agreed with Mr Antoniotti that he believed he did not share any of the blame for his daughter's death.
The trial concludes today.