A Co Waterford man who admitted the murder of a woman in her home was jailed for life at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
Ms Sandra Tobin (36) died of asphyxiation due to ligature strangulation, the court heard. Her partially clothed body was found by gardai in the front bedroom of her home at Closegate, Waterford, after neighbours noticed a broken window and raised the alarm.
Anthony Butler (30), a single man with an address at Beau Street, Waterford, admitted the murder of Ms Tobin in three telephone calls to gardai.
When Butler, wearing a denim shirt and jeans and a leather waistcoat, was arraigned in court yesterday he replied "Guilty" to the murder of Ms Tobin at Closegate, Waterford, on March 15th last year.
Supt Pat Brennan told the court neighbours had noticed a broken window at the front of Ms Tobin's house on the afternoon of March 15th last year. Gardai were alerted and found Ms Tobin dead in the front bedroom.
He said Butler had contacted the gardai by telephone on the night of March 16th/17th. He made three telephone calls and had admitted murdering Ms Tobin. He later came to the Garda station and made a statement.
In the statement, Butler said he knew Sandra Tobin for about four years. She is a friend of mine. I used to call to her regular one time because she was lonely and sick. She used to take the fits - epilepsy.
He said he called to Ms Tobin's, whom he had not seen "in months", at about 9.30 p.m. on the night of March 14th.
He said they had tea and smoked cigarettes and at about 2 a.m. Ms Tobin said she wanted to go to bed. She went into the spare room and asked him to come in. He said she was looking out through the curtains. "She went on and was telling me she'd get me and about X being her lover. This nagging got to me."
They had an argument about what she was saying and were shouting. "We both got angry," he said.
"When I shoved her down on the bed I kept shaking her. She was shouting back at me. She was giving me as much as I was giving her. Then I saw blood coming out her nose but I didn't hit her. Then saw frothing coming out the side of her mouth. I got a fright. I was terrified. She was quiet in almost certain I didn't use the tie. I can't be 100 per cent sure. I don't know how long I kept shaking her. When I thought she was dead I panicked," he said in the statement.
Butler said he ran out of the house and closed the door. He realised he had left his haversack inside and broke a pane of glass in the front door with a screwdriver and went back inside.
He said when he saw Ms Tobin in the bedroom: "I knew then what I was after doing. I knew she was dead."
After finding his haversack Butler said he left the house and threw the screwdriver and haver sack into the river.
Defending counsel said his client had been in custody since March 17th last year and had not taken up bail. He said Butler was aware of the sentence for murder.
Mr Justice Carney said the mandatory sentence was imprisonment for life and imposed that sentence to date from March 17th last year.