A friend of Joe O'Reilly told the trial that the accused man confided to him about his marital difficulties with Rachel.
John Austen, a close friend of the accused, told Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that he had got to know the O'Reillys through playing softball.
Rachel O'Reilly was on the team. Mr Austen said the games had involved about 50 participants and they had broken the world record for the longest softball game on two occasions.
"The first time we played for 25 hours, the second time for over 50 hours." He said Rachel O'Reilly was on the team. "I got to know her as a fellow team mate."
Mr Austen said when his marriage had broken up in 2004, his friendship with the accused had moved into "what I would term a closer friendship".
He told the court that Mr O'Reilly had told of problems with his own marriage.
"There were marital difficulties and himself and Rachel had been sleeping in separate bedrooms. He discussed the possibility of getting an apartment."
He said Mr O'Reilly discussed renting in the Balbriggan area, "so he could be close to the kids. I would have categorised Joe as a very caring father."
Mr Austen also told the court about a dinner party he and his partner held on September 8th, 2004 which Mr O'Reilly attended with a "close friend" of his called Nicki Pelley.
Mr Austen said he would categorise Ms Pelley as a close friend of Joe but he couldn't tell how close because he never saw any intimacy between them. "That is difficult to say. There was little conversation of how close they were."
Asked if he thought they were purely platonic friends, he answered "no".
The court also heard from farmer Kevin Moore, whose farm surrounds the O'Reilly property and whose house is the closest geographically to the O'Reilly residence.
He told the court his wife had been friendly with Rachel and they would visit each other from time to time.
He described one occasion where the deceased woman had brought maps of the property and told his wife that after a survey of the land she had discovered "there was less ground in the site than she thought".
Mr Moore said she wasn't concerned but just wanted clarification.
He also told the court he had a Labrador cross that was an excellent guard dog and would bark anytime someone approached.
His wife, Maura Moore, told the court that she and Rachel got on very well. "She was a lady, she was very nice."
Ms Moore recalled the occasion where the deceased asked about the disputed boundaries.
Ms Moore said she had worked in a solicitor's office for 25 years and told Ms O'Reilly that she didn't think there was a problem since the house had changed hands several times and the boundaries had never been an issue.
"She said Joe just asked her to come and get it cleared up." Ms Moore said she seemed very embarrassed and kept apologising.
The court also heard from several witnesses who had handed over CCTV footage to gardaí. The court heard from Sinead Bagnall, who worked in the cash office of the Dublin Bus depot in Broadstone, Phibsboro.
She told the court she had responsibility for changing the CCTV tapes at the garage but on October 4th she had been feeling unwell and forgot to set the tape recording.