The relationship between Tina Satchwell and her husband Richard Satchwell was “odd” and he was “obsessive” about her, Ms Satchwell’s sister has told the Central Criminal Court.
Lorraine Howard, the final witness in the trial of Mr Satchwell, who denies the murder of his wife, said he had referred to Ms Satchwell his “trophy” wife, which was “not right”.
He was “obsessive” and wanted to know where Ms Satchwell was all the time and who she was with, Ms Howard told the court on Thursday. He “would find some fault with” every friend Ms Satchwell ever made, and her circle of friends “got smaller”.
“I thought it was controlling and odd.”
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She was asked by defence counsel Brendan Grehan about her responses to questions from gardaí set out in a statement of August 2020, more than three years after Ms Satchwell disappeared in 2017 and before her remains were discovered under her home in October 2023.
In August 2020, Ms Howard was angry with Ms Satchwell, believing she was causing “untold stress” to the family. She had been told by Mr Satchwell his wife had left him and taken money, and of violence by her towards him, Ms Howard said.
When asked by gardaí if her sister might have depression, she had concerns because her brother had taken his own life in 2012. Mr Satchwell had portrayed his wife as depressed, “knocking teeth out, extremely violent”.
She had never seen violence from her sister. They had many arguments and both had “vicious” tempers, but “she never once went to put a hand towards me”.
Mr Satchwell showed her “every scar” on his body after his wife went missing, and blamed Ms Satchwell for them, she said. He never referred to his wife as violent before she went missing and that was why she had told gardaí she felt concerned for her sister’s mental state.
She revised her views after the discovery of Ms Satchwell’s body, and after hearing things about the couple’s relationship from others.
Ms Howard made the August 2020 statement “in anger”, she said. “He is the person I should have aimed the anger at.”
She did not regard him as controlling at the time she made the statement, “but definitely possessive”. Her sister had told her “he would follow her to the ends of the earth, she had no way of getting away from him”.
When she, the witness, was aged 15, Ms Satchwell, aged 18, had told her she had slapped Mr Satchwell in the face, but she did not know the context.
Ms Howard was the last witness, and the only defence witness, in the trial of Mr Satchwell (58), who denies the murder of his 45-year-old wife at their home at Grattan Street, Youghal, on March 19th and 20th, 2017.
Her remains were discovered buried in a grave under the stairs in October 2023 and were so decomposed a cause of death could not be ascertained.
The jury of seven women and five men will hear closing speeches on Friday from the prosecution and defence after which they will be charged, from Monday, by Mr Justice Paul McDermott. After the charge concludes, they will begin considering their verdict.
On Thursday, Ms Howard told Mr Grehan her mother, Mary Collins, is also Ms Satchwell’s mother but both daughters only learned that when Ms Satchwell was making her Confirmation.
Ms Satchwell grew up believing her grandmother, Florence Dingivan, was her mother. They lived as mother and daughter, initially in Fermoy and later in England.
Ms Howard and Ms Satchwell were best friends growing up in Fermoy, but their relationship changed after Ms Satchwell learned they had the same mother. Ms Satchwell considered she had been “abandoned” and felt resentment about that.
Both she and Ms Satchwell adored their brother Tom, who died in 2012, she said. Becoming tearful, she said half of her sister’s ashes are buried with her brother and half with her grandmother.
Ms Howard said Mr Satchwell was “obsessed” with Ms Satchwell and would tell everyone he would never go off with anyone else. After he reported her missing in 2017, he had said, if she came through the door, he would take her back, the court heard.
She agreed Mr Satchwell spent “every penny” on Ms Satchwell “to dress her up” and that she had told gardaí Ms Satchwell “loved herself” and was “high maintenance”.
She told gardaí in 2020 she had seen scratches on Mr Satchwell’s back but did not know in what context they arose. Mr Satchwell works in building, like Ms Howard’s husband, and she had often seen scratches on her husband, she said.
