A man who bludgeoned his wife to death with a lump hammer, before leaving her body upside down in the cot of their five-month-old baby, has been jailed for life for her murder.
Goodwill Udechukwu gave little reaction as the jury returned its unanimous verdict convicting him of the murder of Jamaican mother-of-two Natasha Gray. However, he later stood up and gave a speech to the court claiming he was innocent and that he had been convicted because the jury was Irish and he was African.
The 32-year-old Nigerian, with a previous address at Royal Canal View, Royal Canal Bank, Phibsboro in Dublin, had pleaded not guilty to Ms Gray's murder at the same address on February 18th, 2003.
The jury took just over an hour to reach its verdict, and afterwards listened as the victim's sister Nicola Curtis gave a tearful account of the impact of her sister's death on her and her family.
She said her sister had returned from Jamaica just a month before she was murdered. Their father had been ill. "When my family told him, the only thing he could say was 'Natasha, Natasha' and he never spoke again and then he died. When I went home I had to bury them both together."
She said she had one question for the accused, which she did not expect him to answer. "I want to ask Mr Udechukwu in my heart, but I don't think he will answer it. I just want to ask him did she cry, did she call for her child, what did she say when he hit her, but I know I won't get that answer."
Natasha Gray, who was described as a small and quiet woman, was struck eight times on the head by Udechukwu after she asked him to leave the flat where he had come to stay after getting out of prison.
Nicola Curtis thanked the jury for its verdict and said it had been a very difficult time for her and her family. Her sister was killed when her two sons were just five months and 3½ years old, and since then Mrs Curtis and her husband had to bring them up, along with her own baby. She has also been working and studying. "It hasn't been easy for us. I know I can't bring her back," she said.
Outside the court, Natasha Gray's mother, who had flown over from Jamaica for the verdict, got down on her knees and said "Thank you, Jesus."
In an extraordinary speech to the jury after he was jailed for life, Udechukwu said: "All I have to say to everyone in this court is I didn't kill my wife. This is total injustice."
He went on: "I am from Africa. Everybody in this court is from Ireland."
He said: "Everybody know Goodwill did not commit this crime." He said the people who had done it had managed to conceal it from the State for all these years. "If justice is being done, I am not supposed to be pronounced guilty. I did not kill my wife. God knows it." He later said: "The person who give me life will find justice from the air, the sea and from Irish motorway. My justice will surely come."
Prosecution evidence was given that Udechukwu, who had just been released from prison after assaulting gardaí, had planned the murder and was captured on CCTV footage in a hardware store in Dublin on the day before the killing, purchasing the lump hammer.
The hammer was found beside her body in the cot of the five-month-old baby she had with Udechukwu.
A worker at the hardware store on North Frederick Street, Peter Foran, said he had initially shown Udechukwu a number of hammers, which he complained were too expensive.
When he showed him a lighter claw hammer, Udechukwu had asked for something heavier. When he was shown the €5 lump hammer, he weighed it in his hand before saying: "OK." He also purchased a hatchet and was given both tools for the discounted price of €10.
The hatchet was found hidden in a suitcase in a wardrobe at the flat with the price sticker still on it, enabling gardaí to track its purchase.