Woman allegedly stabbed partner four times, murder trial told

A jury has heard how a 42-year-old Louth woman accused of murdering her partner in Louth last year allegedly stabbed the deceased four times with a large kitchen knife.

Paula Farrell, with an address at Rathmullen Park, Drogheda, Co Louth is charged with murdering Wayne McQuillan (30) at her home on January 1st, 2014.

On Monday at the Central Criminal Court, Ms Farrell pleaded not guilty to murdering Mr McQuillan.

In his opening speech, prosecution counsel Gerard Clarke SC told the jury of five men and seven women that in the early hours of January 1st, 2014, Ms Farrell, then aged 40, allegedly killed the deceased by stabbing him four times with a “large kitchen knife”.

Year-long relationship

The court heard Ms Farrell and Mr McQuillan, who was known as “Quilly”, had been in a relationship for a year. He was 10 years younger than her and lived with his parents.

“You will hear from Mr McQuillan’s mother that when the two started going out, he stayed one night a week, but that increased.

“Ms Farrell had a young son of 7/8 years of age living with her,” said Mr Clarke.

Prosecution counsel said the couple had both “overindulged” in drink to some extent and particularly on the night in question, which was New Year’s Eve, before an argument broke out at Ms Farrell’s home at 1.45am on January 1st, 2014.

“Ms Farrell took a large kitchen knife from a large block of knifes and stabbed Mr McQuillan four times, and one stab was fatal.

“You will hear evidence from the State Pathologist that three stab wounds hit the bone and another downward stab into the left shoulder cut an important sub-clavicle vein - this is a large vein in the body - which led to massive bleeding,” said Mr Clarke.

Various witnesses

Counsel for the DPP then told the jury they would hear in the course of the trial from various witnesses who passed the house at Rathmullen Park on the night when Mr McQuillan appeared at the door.

“A number of witnesses thought he had oil on his upper body but it was a massive quantity of blood. He shouted at teenagers outside to get an ambulance.

“You will hear Paula Farrell stood at the door and told them not to call an ambulance.

“She went back into the house and began to clean up, and the knife she used was found in the sink,” added Mr Clarke.

The court heard Mr McQuillan was then brought to hospital in a Garda car, but was already in cardiac arrest when he arrived.

“He was revived after some effort and it took 10/15 mins to resuscitate him. You will hear from a consultant who drained the blood from the left chest of Mr McQuillan, and how in total 1.8 litres of blood came out of his chest and had escaped externally.

Declared dead

“He was revived and as part of the medical procedure they carried out a CT scan, but while he was in the scanning room he suffered another cardiac arrest and he couldn’t be resuscitated and was declared dead at 4.39am,” concluded Mr Clarke.

The court heard Ms Farrell was then arrested and brought to the Garda station, where the next day she was charged with the murder of her partner.

“When you hear the evidence we believe you will have no doubt that Paula Farrell is guilty of murder,” said Mr Clarke.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and is expected to last two and a half weeks.