The manager of a social welfare office who bludgeoned his wife to death had been suspended from work three days previously, a trial at the Central Criminal Court was told yesterday.
Mr George Birmingham SC, prosecuting, said Patrick Hennessy beat his wife with a car jack after she repeatedly asked him why he was suspended from his job. Their two young children were in the back seat of Ms Marie Hennessy's car at the time.
Mr Birmingham said Hennessy was suspended from his job after allegations of financial irregularities in the social welfare office in Callan, Co Kilkenny.
Mr Birmingham was opening the case against Patrick Hennessy, (37) of Killaloe, Callan, who has pleaded guilty to manslaughter but denies murdering Ms Marie Hennessy.
The prosecution alleged that Hennessy beat his wife to death after stopping her car as she was bringing her two daughters on a shopping trip. He had been escorting them in his own car before he stopped his wife's vehicle.
Mr Birmingham said Hennessy told gardai he found his wife lying on the road. He later admitted attacking her, but said she had first swung her car jack at him. Mr Birmingham said the attack happened on Monday, May 10th, 1999, and Ms Hennessy died two days later.
Det Garda Eugene Gilligan, of the ballistics section of Garda HQ, said he found blood on a child's buggy in the boot of Ms Hennessy's car. He said the blood was also splattered in other parts of the car. He agreed with Ms Maureen Clark SC, defending, that the boot of Ms Hennessy's car was open and her car jack was on the ground when he arrived on the scene.
Ms Hennessy's sister, Ms Bernadette Cleere, said she worked at the Callan social welfare office and Patrick Hennessy was her manager. On the morning of May 10th, 1999, a neighbour called to the family home and told her Ms Hennessy had been involved in an accident. When she arrived at the scene, she saw Patrick Hennessy covered in blood.
The trial continues.