MICHELLE ROCCA had been urged by Cathal Ryan to prove her love for him by throwing all the diamond rings she had not received from him into the river Liffey, it was claimed in the High Court yesterday.
Ms Marian Gale, a company director of a fashion boutique, said in evidence that she did not know Mr Ryan very well but had known Ms Rocca for 17 years, 11 of them as a best friend.
Ms Gale said she must have been very naive because she had never noticed any friction between the couple. She believed the two would marry and that Ms Rocca would be choosing her wedding gown in her shop.
Ms Gale said Ms Rocca did not have a specific engagement ring from Mr Ryan because he had given her a number of rings and that on one occasion he asked her to throw all her other diamond rings into the Liffey as proof of her love for him.
Ms Gale added that she knew that Ms Rocca had not thrown the rings into the river.
Ms Gale said she went to see Ms Rocca in Mount Carmel Hospital after she gave birth to Claudia in April 1991 and described the occasion as a very happy one. She had a photograph which had been taken at the time and produced it in court.
After the birth she had met Ms Rocca and Mr Ryan socially on a number of occasions. She told the court she "hadn't a breeze" that there was anything going on between the couple and thought their life was a bed of roses.
At the joint Ryan and Rocca family christening in September 1991 both Mr Ryan and Ms Rocca appeared to be going down the happy road as a couple.
Cross examined by Ms Fidelma Macken SC, for Mr Ryan, Ms Gale said Mr Ryan was extremely proud of this three children, including Claudia.