A man accused of murdering his wife told gardaí his wife had threatened to have him shot, a jury at the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Anton Mulder (46), of Maelduin, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, but originally from Durban in South Africa, denies murdering his Irish-born wife, Colleen Suzanne Mulder, on the morning of December 17th, 2004. Mrs Mulder was strangled in her bed.
Former Det Garda Valentine Cross told Paul Murray, prosecuting, that Mr Mulder had told gardaí he slept in fear of men bursting into his bedroom and shooting him with an AK47.
He said Mr Mulder said he and his daughters were in fear of their lives and he barricaded the bedroom door when they went to bed. Mr Mulder told gardaí his marriage had been in difficulty for several months and he and his wife were constantly arguing about "stupid things" including their two sons' use of cannabis. They had been sleeping in separate bedrooms for several months.
He said that Mrs Mulder would often verbally abuse him, "throwing out 10,000 pages of words" and he had picked up a leaflet from the men's domestic violence group Amen for advice.
Det Garda James O'Sullivan told Mr Murray that Mr Mulder said his wife had verbally abused him for "10, 15, 20 minutes" on the morning of her death. He said she asked him how he was sleeping and told him he had never been a father to their six children.
Mr Mulder said he "just snapped". "I grabbed her by her chin, neck, face, all over. I just wanted her to shut up." Mr Mulder said he had wanted to "have his say" and didn't notice that she was badly injured.
He told gardaí he had phoned a solicitor friend in Dunshaughlin to ask him to phone for an ambulance and gardaí because Colleen would accuse him of assault .
The jury also heard from Johan de Waal, a South African friend of the family, who told Gerry Clarke SC, prosecuting, that the accused man had told him and another friend that he was "sick of the children, he was sick of his wife". He agreed that he had been in a relationship with Mrs Mulder when she had moved back to the family home in Bangor in November 2004 until the time of her death.