THE ONLY daughter of a woman whose body was found dumped in the river Suir has begun a legal action for a share of the house which her mother shared with a man later acquitted of her murder.
Sasha Keating (21) claimed her mother, Meg Walsh (35), had obtained agreement from her second husband, John O’Brien (44), for the transfer of their house at Dunavarra, Ballinakill Downs, Waterford, into her name before her disappearance in October 2006.
Ms Walsh disappeared on October 1st, 2006. Her body was recovered from the Suir in Waterford city on October 15th, 2006. A postmortem revealed she had died from blunt-force trauma to the head. Mr O’Brien was charged with but cleared of her murder.
Opening the case for Ms Keating at Waterford Circuit Court in Dungarvan yesterday, Michael Delaney SC said Ms Walsh and Mr O’Brien had moved into the house in 2002, having registered the property for which they paid €223,000 in both their names.
They funded the purchase with a €184,000 mortgage from Bank of Ireland which they were repaying together. At the time of Ms Walsh’s death, some €163,000 was outstanding. Her life insurance policy cleared this.
The court heard evidence that Ms Walsh, who died intestate, was assaulted by Mr O’Brien on September 20th, 2006. She reported the matter to gardaí but said she did not want to make a formal complaint. She got local solicitor Gerard O’Herlihy to write to her husband seeking an assurance that he would not assault her again, otherwise, she would seek protection and barring orders against him and would make a formal complaint to gardaí.
The court heard from a witness statement made by Mr O’Brien before his arrest. In it he admitted assaulting Ms Walsh on September 20th but said that he promised never to assault her again, and that when she asked him to sign over the house as proof of his intention, he agreed.
Lawyers for Ms Keating said Mr O’Brien signed an authorisation form for Bank of Ireland in return for Ms Walsh’s forbearance in not obtaining protection or barring orders or making a formal complaint of assault to gardaí.
Elaine Morgan, for Mr O’Brien, said no evidence had been adduced to support the contention that Mr O’Brien had agreed to the transfer of title to her. If the court found there was evidence, she argued, there was no proper contract to that effect.
Judge Olive Buttimer asked both parties to make written submissions to her on the issue. She adjourned the matter to next Tuesday’s Carlow Circuit Court, saying she would then reserve judgment to a later date.
