Eamonn Lillis began an affair with his massage therapist 10 weeks before his wife’s death, it emerged at his trial for her murder.
The Central Criminal Court jury was hearing details of his garda interviews on the day of his arrest for Celine Cawley’s alleged murder at Rowan Hill on Windgate Road, Howth, in Dublin.
The 52-year-old TV advert producer has pleaded not guilty to murdering her at their home on December 15th, 2008, while their daughter was at school.
Ms Cawley, who was 46, died that morning in Beaumont Hospital of blunt force trauma to the head. Mr Lillis said he found an intruder attacking her on their patio but has since admitted that there was no intruder.
“What did she say?” asked Mr Lillis on December 20th, 2008 when gardaí told him Jean Tracey had given a statement.
Detective Garda Paul Donoghue was giving evidence of interviewing Mr Lillis at Contarf Garda station from 11 o’clock that morning, four hours after his arrest.
“She said she’s been having an affair with you for the past 10 weeks and that she’s been in your house three times,” asked the garda. Mr Lillis had just denied any relationship other than receiving professional massages from her every Friday.
“She said you were getting a massage in Howth Haven and you asked her what she was thinking,” he said. “She took your hand, put it on your pulse and said: ‘That’s what I’m thinking’."
The next time he went for his massage they kissed in one of the treatment rooms, continued the statement.
“No comment,” responded Mr Lillis.
“The first time you had sex was in your house on a Monday, her day off. She thinks Celine and your daughter were in London,” continued the garda. “You bought her a phone and texted everyday. We have the phone.”
“No comment,” replied Mr Lillis.
“Were you not happy in your marriage?” asked the garda. “No comment,” he again replied.
“I did have an affair but it has absolutely nothing to do with this,” said Mr Lillis.
He agreed that he and his wife had some problems, but said that they worked them out with the help of a resolution list he made.
“We sat down one night with a bottle of wine. By the end of it, it was very therapeutic,” he said.
“Were you infatuated with Jean?” he was asked.
“I suppose it was a form of midlife crisis,” replied Mr Lillis. However he said he would never leave his wife; he wouldn’t break up the family.
“We’ve a statement from a witness that said yours was a sexless marriage, and that this suited you both,” said the garda.
“Not true,” replied Mr Lillis.
He agreed that he knew Ms Tracey was due to get married in June.
When asked if he was jealous, he replied: “I don’t do jealous.”
He agreed that he was going to meet Ms Tracey the day of his wife’s death but denied that Ms Cawley had found out, that they’d had a row that morning , that he’d killed her and covered it up.
“We’ve had rows before but nothing like that. I just wouldn’t be capable, not to my wife, not to her, not to anyone,” he said.
“I didn’t kill her. I swear before God. I couldn’t do it to Celine,” he said earlier in the statement.
When asked if he loved his wife, he replied: “God yes.” He said they had a very close relationship both personally and professionally, that she was ‘a really good friend‘.
“She was a tower of strength for me really,” he said.
Det Garda Donoghue agreed with Brendan Grehan SC, defending, that at one point he told Mr Lillis that there was no point beating about the bush.
“It’s quite obvious that you lost the head and flipped that morning,” he said to him. “Everyone we’ve spoken to said you were a nice, gentle, caring soul.”
The garda said it was obvious a tragedy had happened.
“It’s within all of us. A build-up of resentment can cause us to explode,” he said.
Detective Sergeant Fionnula Olohan said she later showed Mr Lillis CCTV footage of himself buying a newspaper in The Summit Stores at 8.30am. In the video he was wearing a black jumper with a collar, blue jeans and black runner boots.
The trial has already heard that he was wearing a grey fleece, green combats and brown shoes when gardai arrived at the scene. He told the detective he had changed to take his dogs for a walk after buying the paper.
The jury was also shown two bricks, one bloodied, along with heavily bloodstained clothing found in the defendant’s attic in the days after his wife‘s death.
Garda Colm MacDonnachadha donned blue protective gloves to hold up the heavily blood-stained blue jeans, white socks, black jumper, boxer shorts, outdoor gloves, rubber gloves, tea towel and kitchen towels.
The garda had found the items in a black refuse bag, along with a yoghurt carton and sauce jar. The bag was under a camera, camcorder and lenses inside a suitcase, which was under children’s books and toys.
Ballistics expert Detective Garda Alan Curry held up the blood-stained cobblestone he took from the patio. It had been beside Ms Cawley’s head as she lay unconscious in a pool of blood.
He showed a stained blind taken from the door that leads from the kitchen to the deck and patio. He also showed the jury a blood-stained polo shirt and black runner boots he took from the defendant’s wardrobe, along with a Breitling watch he found on the defendant’s bedside locker.
“Initially it appeared perfect,” he said of the watch. “However when I picked it up I noticed the face had been smeared. The links in the wrist-strap had bloodlike staining and the clasp had bloodlike staining and tissue embedded in it.”
Detective Garda Colin Fitzpatrick showed the jury a red brick he found wrapped in a tea towel on a shelving unit in the couple’s dining room. There was no blood on the tea towel or brick, he said.
The court was given a video-tour of Rowan Hill, the large house and garden that the victim shared with the accused, their daughter and three dogs.
Detective Sergeant David Conway guided the court through the footage he took on November 21st, 2008, the day Mr Lillis was charged with his wife’s murder.
He pointed out the deck where paramedics had attended an unconscious Ms Cawley, the fence where Mr Lillis said the burglar ran. He talked the jury through the upstairs bedroom and bathroom that Mr Lillis used and where a number of items were found. He also pointed out the area in the attic where the blood-stained clothing was discovered.
The 20-minute video also showed the other three bedrooms, the kitchen-cum-dining room, the two sitting rooms, the office, the utility area and the outdoor area including hot tub, stables, cars and boats.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of six women and six men.