The Galway woman accused of the murder of her partner told gardai she was "freaked out" when she stabbed him, but she just wanted him to leave her alone, the Central Criminal Court was told.
A Garda superintendent leading the investigation told a Central Criminal Court jury the accused was in hospital 51 times during her relationship with the deceased. Ms Kathleen Bell (36), of Camilaun Park, Newcastle, Co Galway, pleaded not guilty to the murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Mr Patrick Sammon (42) at her house on June 20th, 1997.
Yesterday the prosecution case ended and the trial was adjourned until Monday when a psychiatrist, at present out of the State, will give evidence for the defence.
Det Sgt Patrick Collins of Mill Street Garda station in Galway told prosecution lawyer Mr Marcus Daly SC that when he arrived at her house at around 3 a.m. on June 20th, Ms Bell and a neighbour, Mr Bernard Ward, claimed Mr Sammon had arrived home wounded and Ms Bell had run out in the street screaming, where she met Mr Ward.
Det Sgt Collins agreed with defence lawyer Mr Patrick Mac Entee SC that within five minutes of giving the false account, Ms Bell had told them the truth, showed them the knife with which she stabbed Mr Sammon six times, and made a statement of admission.
In a signed statement, she told Det Garda Gerard Dillon Mr Sammon arrived at her house at 11:30 p.m. after phoning her a number of times.
As they sat drinking beer, an argument started over the children of his late wife, Kathleen's sister Mary. Two days before, Mr Sammon's brother rang to say Mary died of a drug overdose in London the previous April.
Ms Bell's statement said Mr Sammon told her he "didn't give a fuck that your sister is dead".
She then told him: "She is dead because of you. Get up and go or I'll kill you". When he refused to leave, she went to the toilet, but she took a knife from the kitchen and hid it under her jumper.
The row continued when she got back. Mr Sammon refused to leave. She showed him the knife and he began calling her names. He then "made a grab" for her.
"I lost the head and I went for him with the knife", she said. "I don't know how many times I stabbed him, as I was freaked out".
Det Garda Dillon agreed with Mr MacEntee that in her statement, Ms Bell said a number of times she did not intend to kill Mr Sammon. He agreed she said this "with some conviction".
In another interview, with Det Garda Seamus Burke, Ms Bell allegedly said Mr Sammon used to "beat the hell out of me when he was drunk".
As they argued at around 1 a.m. it upset her when he asked her to marry him, saying he was "now free". The knife was "to frighten Pat", she told Det Garda Burke.
"I told him that his kids hated him, they did not want to come back to Ireland and they blamed him for their mother's death", she said. There was "a big argument about this" and Mr Sammon refused to leave.
Supt Anthony Finnerty told the court Ms Bell was first charged with the manslaughter of Mr Sammon and on February 9th, 1998, on the instructions of the DPP, she was charged with his murder.
In reply to the charge, Ms Bell said: "It should never have happened, I am so sorry."
Dr Brid McBride, a forensic scientist at the Forensic Science Laboratory, Garda Headquarters, said she found four cuts to the left shoulder area of a sweatshirt worn by Mr Sammon on the night he was killed. There was also an angled cut on the lower front of the sweatshirt, she said.
The witness said the deceased's shirt had cuts in the "same approximate area". The suggestion that this meant the knife penetrated the shirt only three times was just "one possibility", she said.
Another might be that she did not see a fourth cut because medics had "cut through" the front of the shirt.
Another forensic scientist, Dr Hugh Coyle of the Forensic Laboratory's drugs department, said tests on a blood sample taken from the accused at 8 a.m. on June 20th, 1997 showed a blood-alcohol level "significantly less than" the drink-driving limit.
The defence case begins before Ms Justice McGuinness and a jury on Monday.