Ireland

Man accused of murdering pensioner made anonymous calls to gardaí

Trevor Rowe told gardaí: ‘I murdered a woman. I slit her throat and stuck a knife in her head’

Trevor Rowe at an earlier court hearing. File photograph: Dylan Vaughan

Alison O'Riordan
Tue Mar 8 2022 - 19:07

A man accused of murdering a pensioner in her own home told gardaí that he could not tell them what had happened, adding that: “It wouldn’t do her family any good to know. I can’t even close my f**king eyes with the nightmare I see.”

Trevor Rowe also told officers that he had made anonymous phone calls to gardaí because he just wanted "the woman found" and was ashamed of what he had done, his Central Criminal Court trial has heard.

When gardaí put it to Trevor Rowe that what happened to 71-year-old Ann Butler was not "a nice thing", the accused replied: "It's not; it's disgusting, it's horrible, it's inhumane."

Mr Rowe (29), with an address at Abbey Street, Kilkenny has pleaded not guilty to murdering 71-year-old Ms Butler at her home at Maudlin Street, Kilkenny on March 20, 2020.

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Cried uncontrollably

When gardaí called to the defendant’s home, the 29-year-old fell to his knees, cried uncontrollably and said: “I killed a woman. I murdered a woman. I slit her throat and stuck a knife in her head.”

The defendant said he takes 90mg of methadone every day and agreed that it was keeping him away from “the gear” but he would have the “odd slip”. “Listen, you don’t know what it’s like to be sick on drugs,” he added.

Det Sgt James O’Brien has told the trial he saw that the body of Ms Butler had lacerations to the neck, an injury to the head and her left ear appeared to be missing when he entered her home.

The trial continues tomorrow before Ms Justice Karen O’Connor and a jury of seven men and five women.

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