A MAN accused of murdering his wife told a friend a different account of the night his wife went missing to that which he told gardaí.
Meg Walsh’s body was recovered from the river Suir on October 15th, 2006, after being missing for two weeks. She had died from blunt-force trauma to the head.
Her husband, John O’Brien, denies murdering his 35-year-old wife on a date between October 1st, 2006, and October 15th, 2006, somewhere within the State.
Kevin Barry told Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that he had known Mr O’Brien for more than 10 years and worked with him as a bus driver.
He said he knew Mr O’Brien and Ms Walsh well and would have had their mobile phone numbers. He said he spoke to Mr O’Brien on Tuesday October 2nd, after hearing that his wife was missing.
“There were rumours going round that the gardaí were after questioning him the day before about Meg.” He said he had only heard the news second hand and had asked Mr O’Brien for his side of the story.
The jury has heard that Mr O’Brien told gardaí that he and Meg were socialising in the Woodlands Hotel, their local bar on Saturday September 30th. They stayed late drinking then returned home with a friend, Owen Walsh.
Mr Walsh told the jury that Mr O’Brien ordered him out of the house when he caught him kissing Meg. Mr Barry told Mr Buckley that Mr O’Brien told him “he saw his friend standing with Meg fully clothed, giving Meg a peck of a kiss”. He described it as “a drunken kiss”.
Mr Barry said Mr O’Brien also told him that Meg had left the house on the Sunday before he came back from a walk at 5pm.
The jury has been shown CCTV footage which the prosecution say shows Mr O’Brien on the banks of the River Suir, not far from where his wife’s body washed up at about 5.30pm.
He told gardaí that he had a conversation with Meg when he returned home soon afterwards and heard her leave the house and drive off at around 8.30pm.
Mr Barry said he had also been with Mr O’Brien that following day when they, and another colleague, watched a helicopter searching the Suir. Mr Barry said he commented that they must have been searching for a body but said Mr O’Brien did not react at all. The following day Mr O’Brien called in sick.
Garda John Nugent told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that he had found a steering wheel lock pushed down the side of a bin. The jury has already heard that the steering lock could have been responsible for the two blows that cracked Ms Walsh’s skull. No forensic evidence was found in a detailed examination of the lock.
Carpet fitters Stephen Harrington and Keith Harrington told Mr McGinn that they had not seen the steering lock when they came to fit new carpets at the O’Brien house.
However, Keith Harrington agreed with Paddy McCarthy SC, defending, that it was normal for people to clear out rooms before they arrived to fit the carpets.
Garda Aiden Slattery told Mr McGinn that Mr O’Brien had lost a considerable amount of weight since that initial arrest.
The trial continues.