A close friend of Mrs Geraldine Diver, whose husband John is on trial for her murder, has said he told her he went out twice on the night his wife was killed but could not remember why or where he had gone. Mr John Diver (60) denies murdering his wife Geraldine (42) at Robinhood Road, Clondalkin, Dublin, on December 2nd 1996. The couple had lived with their two children in Walkinstown. The jury has heard Mrs Diver was having an affair and was seeking a judicial separation from her husband.
A prosecution witness, Ms Marion Joyce, who became "close friends" with Geraldine Diver when they worked in the Coombe Hospital, said she also knew Mr Diver and after Mrs Diver's death she kept in regular touch with him and his children and Mrs Diver's father, Mr Liam Grimes.
She told Mr Edward Comyn SC, prosecuting, that on January 5th 1997 she rang the Diver house and Mr Diver "wasn't too pleased" with Ms Lilly Henderson, who has alleged he rang the Coombe Hospital and was put through to his wife on the night she died. "He called her a bitch," and said "she had told lies about him before", Ms Joyce said, could check whether the call was made from here (his home) or from the phone box up the road, and "said he did not make any call".
Ms Joyce said Mr Diver said "he brought his son out with him to the Regent Palace chipper and he timed how long it took to walk there and home". He told her it took 15 minutes to go and get chips and go home, she alleged.
"He told me that on that particular evening, he went out to the chip shop at around 9.30, went home, remembered going back out again, and didn't know where he went or why he went out," she continued.
Ms Joyce said Mr Diver told her his wife had become a regular at the local Kestrel pub. "He said, `Imagine we were married 20 years and we have never been to a pub together, and she was a regular there'.' She detected from his voice that he was "a bit annoyed", Ms Joyce said.
Cross-examined by Mr Barry White SC, defending, she agreed there was no reference to the time of 9.30 in her original note or in her statement to gardai seven-and-a-half months later.
Earlier the jury watched security footage showing Mrs Diver leaving the main exit of the Coombe Women's Hospital at 21:23:13 on the night she was killed. The time directly contradicts evidence of times heard earlier in the trial.
Gardai have established the video clock was running three minutes slow on the monitor, giving a real time of 21:26.
Earlier in the trial another prosecution witness, Mr Paul Maher, said he saw Mrs Diver driving on to Walkinstown Drive from Kilnamanagh Road with her husband behind her in the back seat "roughly" between 21:15 and 21:25.
The jury has already heard that the journey from the Coombe to Kilnamanagh takes around nine minutes in off-peak traffic.
Mr Maher's friend, Mr Mark Sharkey, gave evidence that the time they saw the Divers' car was "between half-nine and 25 to 10". Security footage from Buckley's yard showed Mrs Diver's car arriving at the entrance at 9.40.
The trial continues before the jury and Mr Justice Smith.