A MURDER trial was told yesterday that a Westmeath woman witnessed her mother and her future husband beat her father to death 23 years ago and bury him in their back garden.
Opening the case, the prosecution told the Central Criminal Court in Dublin that the alleged murderers later dug up the girl’s father, burned his body over a number of days, crushed the charred bones and reburied them.
Vera McGrath (61) has pleaded not guilty to murdering her then 43-year-old husband, Bernard Brian McGrath, at their home in Lower Coole, Co Westmeath.
Colin Pinder (47) of Liverpool, England, who later married the victim’s daughter, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter between March 10th and April 18th, 1987.
Mr Pinder had pleaded not guilty to murder on Monday, but was rearraigned at the start of the trial yesterday. His plea to manslaughter was not accepted.
Denis Vaughan Buckley, prosecuting, told the jury that the original investigation into the alleged murder was in 1993, but that there was a review of the cold case in 2007.
He explained that the prosecution’s case would depend substantially on evidence to be given by the victim’s daughter, Veronica Pinder, née McGrath, who was present at the alleged murder.
“She will summarise for you the events that took place,” he said.
He explained why the date of Mr McGrath’s death wasn’t known exactly. A garda spoke to him on March 10th, 1987, but he was dead and buried in a shallow grave by April 18th, the wedding day of his daughter and Colin Pinder.
“Veronica Pinder will tell you that she met Colin Pinder in England,” said the prosecutor. “Mid-February ’87, they came to Ireland to marry.”
He explained that Mrs McGrath borrowed a caravan for the couple to stay in beside their bungalow. However, there were rows between Mr and Mrs McGrath, and the couple had the caravan towed to Brendan McCabe’s house a few miles away.
One evening at the end of March or the beginning of April, Mr and Mrs McGrath went to visit the young couple. Mr McGrath went into Mr McCabe’s house while his wife joined the young couple in the caravan.
“Vera McGrath expressed a wish that her husband was dead and encouraged Colin Pinder to become involved,” said Mr Vaughan Buckley. He said both couples then walked back to the McGrath family home in Lower Coole for tea.
“There followed a sustained assault by both Vera McGrath and Colin Pinder,” said the barrister, explaining that Mr McGrath was beaten to death. “They used a number of different weapons, ensuring he couldn’t survive.”
Ms Pinder McGrath will describe who struck her father with which weapons, he said.
The new widow and the young couple stayed at the house that night and the victim’s body was buried in the back garden.
“The following day, at the request of her mother, Veronica assisted in the cleaning of blood and mucus off the house,” he said. This was impossible, so her mother told her to put tar on it, he added.
Mrs McGrath went to England shortly afterwards with her three young sons, Brian, Andrew and Edward McGrath.
Her daughter and Mr Pinder remained in the house.
The family returned eight weeks later and the two defendants decided to dig up their victim’s body, said the barrister.
“They burned the remains over two to three days and smashed up the charred bones and reburied them,” he said.
“There’s no issue that the bones recovered were his.”
Mr Vaughan Buckley said that Andrew McGrath will give evidence of what his mother told him when he asked her what had happened to his father.
The court was told that in 1993 two gardaí went to Yorkshire and interviewed Mr Pinder in a police station, as he did not want to be interviewed at home.
Searches were carried out in Ireland, and Mr McGrath’s remains were buried in Whitehall cemetery in June 1998. They consisted of a half-bucket of human bones. These were later exhumed on May 19th, 2008.
Two other gardaí returned to England later that year and interviewed Mr Pinder in his flat. He was arrested at Dublin airport in February last year and charged with Mr McGrath’s murder.
Mrs McGrath was arrested three months later and charged.
“The evidence will be that Mrs McGrath encouraged Colin Pinder to carry out this vicious attack. The evidence is that she took an active part and assaulted him with weapons,” he said.
“You can safely come to the conclusion that both accused are guilty of murdering Bernard Brian McGrath,” he concluded.
Mr Justice John Edwards told the jury of four women and eight men to steer away from any printed or broadcast reports on the case, including old reports.
“This is, as Mr Vaughan Buckley has said, a cold case, so please don’t Google it,” he warned.
The trial is expected to last three weeks.