AN Irish computer executive appeared in a California court this week to face charges that he stabbed his wife to death with a kitchen knife last month in the couple's Santa Clara home.
Mr Colman Bowers (45) has been charged with one count of homicide and is being held at Santa Clara County Jail, a spokeswoman for the county district attorney's office said. Police officials said Mr Bowers appeared in court on Monday for arraignment and pleaded not guilty to killing his wife, Mrs Georgina Bowers.
According to police, Mr Bowers had arrived in the US from Ireland 12 years ago and secured a lucrative position as an executive vice-president of a Silicon Valley computer company. The family lived in a middle-class neighbourhood about 60 miles from San Francisco.
On February 7th Mr Bowers called his two sons on a cellular phone to tell them there had been an accident at the family home. The teenagers rushed home and found their mother's body in a back bedroom with a single stab wound to the chest, police said. Investigators found blood on the bed, and in the bathroom the eight-inch serrated knife they believe was used in the killing.
A patrol car responding to an emergency call found Mr Bowers outside the house. As they pulled into the driveway, he shouted out: "You're looking for me," according to police.
Investigators are still trying to piece together what happened in the two hours between the sons leaving the home to go to a coffee shop at 3 p.m. and their father's telephone call at around 5 p.m.
Police have seized Mr Colman's computer and downloaded e-mail messages his wife had sent to Ireland, according to Sgt Anton Morec, a Santa Clara police spokesman. Those messages indicated Mrs Bowers had concerns about her husband's drinking and the family's finances, Sgt Morec said.
Investigators are also looking into Mr Colman's junkets to casinos in Reno and Nevada. Recently, police said, the couple's domestic arguments culminated in discussion of whether Mrs Bowers would return to Ireland. She wanted to leave, but her husband wanted to stay in California.