The trial of a South African man accused of murdering his Irish-born wife has heard the couple's children say they never saw their father strike their mother.
Anton Mulder (44), Maelduin, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of his wife Colleen Suzanne Mulder.
She was found dead in the bedroom of their house on December 17th, 2004.
At the Central Criminal Court yesterday, two of Anton and Colleen Mulder's children said in evidence they never saw their father hit their mother, despite the fact the relationship was not good.
In a statement, Kristopher Mulder (19), the couple's second-eldest son, admitted he had never seen his father hit his mother.
The witness was not in court, but a statement he gave to the Garda, was read into evidence. He said Mr Mulder would hit inanimate objects when he lost his temper, but not hit his wife.
In late 2004, Mr Mulder told him he had caught another man, Johan De Waal, hugging Colleen, and that they would not be seeing him again. After his wife went to stay in Bangor, in mid-November, 2004, Mr Mulder said to his son that he would ring Colleen everyday, because "he wanted her to come back".
Kristopher claimed that when his mother returned to Co Meath that December, she told them she was leaving her husband after the Christmas period. She had not told Mr Mulder of her plan.
One of the couple's daughters, who gave her evidence via a video link, said in response to prosecution counsel Gerard Clarke SC that her parents fought all the time. She did not see her mother on December 17th, as she got up that morning and went to school.
Under cross-examination from defence counsel Roddy O'Hanlon SC, the girl said that, around Halloween of 2004, she saw her mother slap her father a few times after they had rowed.
The teen admitted that her mother told the defendant to hit her, but in response, her father had said that he "would not stoop to her level".
A younger sister told the court, also by video link, that on the morning of December 17th she heard her mother shouting from the upstairs of their home in Dunshaughlin. The girl, who broke down during questioning, was too upset to tell the court what she saw when she went upstairs.
Under cross-examination by Mr O'Hanlon, the witness said that, on December 17th, she heard her mother swearing at her father.
The case, which is being heard in front of Mr Justice Philip O'Sullivan by a jury of 10 men and two women, resumes today.