The mother of an Irish woman allegedly murdered by her partner during a Spanish holiday cried in court on Wednesday as she described him as someone she “didn’t like” and “didn’t trust”.
Jackie Ward said her daughter Kirsty’s holiday with Dubliner Keith Byrne was a “make or break” one for the pair. She said she had found out after her daughter’s death that she was going to leave him.
Ms Ward told the opening of the trial in Tarragona, on the east coast of Spain, how her daughter, a 36-year-old a mother of one, was “not herself” and “not happy” in the lead up to the events of July 2nd, 2023.
Public prosecutors are seeking a 21-year-prison term for Mr Byrne (32) for allegedly strangling Kirsty Ward, from Ballinteer, South Dublin, at the Magnolia Hotel in Salou.
Midway through his interview with Brendan O’Connor, Bono confesses
Summer 2025: 100 great restaurants, cafes and places to eat around Ireland
Homes in Kildare affordable housing scheme above price limit for State-backed mortgages
Cáit O’Riordan: ‘I quit the Pogues at 21. I got sober ... didn’t see Shane much’
He is pleading not guilty to the charges, and his lawyer is seeking his acquittal.
A five-page public prosecution indictment submitted to the Spanish courts accuses him of strangling Ms Ward with a hair-straightener power cord hours after she broke up with him following a row in their hotel room. They claim he acted with the intention of killing her as he could not accept the end of their eight-month relationship.
They allege Mr Byrne, who had been living in Duleek, Co Meath, took advantage of his “superior strength” and the woman’s alleged lack of easy escape from their room to prevent her from defending herself.
Mr Byrne says he found Ms Ward lying prone with a ligature around her neck and says he tried to revive her.
Private prosecutors for her family want Mr Byrne jailed for 30 years if he is found guilty of intentionally strangling her in their hotel room.
Giving evidence in court on Wednesday, her mother Jackie said she could tell that when her daughter left something not right. “I said to my sisters, ‘I really wish she wasn’t going away this week and I don’t know why I said that’,” she told the court. “I know she was not in a good place and she was not happy.”
Asked if her daughter had confided in her she was having problems with Mr Byrne before their holiday in the Costa Dorada resort of Salou, she said: “I didn’t know it at that time. She didn’t say anything to me going ... But I knew it wasn’t right. I didn’t like him. I didn’t trust him.”
Public prosecutors are accusing Mr Byrne of aggravated murder under Spanish law because he allegedly carried out the crime in a way that left the victim defenceless. They are demanding he pay Kirsty Ward’s teenage child €150,000 and her mother €100,000 in compensation.
Mr Byrne’s trial continues.
