A bookkeeper accused of murdering his mother told his then-wife that before her death, the deceased “went a bit mad”, struck herself with a knife, swung her cane around and tried to pick a fight with him, a murder trial has heard.
Nigel Canavan (39) told his wife he went upstairs, but when he heard two “thuds”, he returned and found his mother, Angela Canavan (58), dead on the floor.
Mr Canavan, with an address at Erris Gardens, Crossmolina, Co Mayo, has pleaded not guilty to his mother’s murder at her home in St John’s Terrace, Co Sligo on May 1st, 2023.
It is the prosecution’s case that “fatal violence” was used on Ms Canavan and that she died from manual strangulation.
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Claire Conroy told the Central Criminal Court that she spoke to the accused man, her then-husband, on the phone the day after Ms Canavan died.
Ms Conroy said Mr Canavan had recently moved out of the family home as they had been living separate lives for some time. He first moved in with his father in Crossmolina in Co Mayo but on the May Bank Holiday weekend in 2023, he was staying at his mother’s house in Sligo.
Recalling the phone conversation, Ms Conroy said Mr Canavan told her he had been working as a bookkeeper in a hotel in Knock, as was normal. On his way home, he got takeaway food for himself and his mother, and they sat eating and talking.
He said his mother then “went haywire and started swinging her cane”. He said she struck herself on the leg with a knife, and when he took the knife and threw it away, she “went a bit mad” and was “picking a fight”.
He said that he left his mother and went upstairs. He said he was on the phone to his friend, John Gannon, talking about hurling and football, when he heard “thuds” from downstairs. When he went to investigate, he said he found his mother dead on the floor with bile in her mouth.
Ms Conroy told defence counsel Desmond Dockery SC that she married Mr Canavan in 2009 and they divorced in 2024. She said that she spoke to Angela Canavan many times about her concerns regarding Nigel’s excessive drinking and erratic behaviour. Following back surgery in 2019, she said he went from being a social drinker to “relying on alcohol and Solpadeine to get through the days”.
In November 2019, Mr Canavan left his job as a bookkeeper at a hotel in Galway and, close to Christmas that year, his mother suffered a fall which caused a brain injury that impacted her physically and mentally.
In February 2023, Mr Canavan “crashed into someone” in his car outside the family home, in front of all the neighbours, Ms Conroy said. He was “incredibly drunk” at the time, she said, and was prosecuted for drunk driving.
She added: “It got to the point where I stopped asking him to stop drinking... I lived my life.”
Ms Conroy described Angela Canavan, a psychotherapist, as a “fantastic person”. When rested and clear-minded, she would give “brilliant advice about anything”.
However, she “had her demons”, particularly with alcohol, and following her brain injury, she could be prone to overreact. She was a “plain speaker” and a “direct speaker” who would express her views when required, she said.
John Gannon described the accused man as a close and trusted friend who was the godfather to his youngest child. He said Mr Canavan called him on the night that Ms Canavan died at 8.18pm, “sobbing and crying” and telling him his mother was dead.
The following day, he had a further conversation with Mr Canavan in which the accused told him his mother was a “raging alcoholic” and that she “basically had done it to herself”.
He said Mr Canavan told him the Gardaí would contact him and he asked Mr Gannon not to say they had spoken about his mother the previous evening. He wanted Mr Gannon to say instead that they had been talking about hurling and football.
Mr Gannon said he initially agreed, but told gardaí the truth the next day.
The trial continues next Tuesday before Mr Justice Kerida Naidoo and a jury of 10 women and two men.
