A Dublin man who admits kicking his girlfriend to death has told a jury at his retrial for murder that he left their flat believing she was dying and went for a drink.
Larry Callaghan also told the Central Criminal Court he woke up beside Ms Janet Mooney's body and started having sex with her. He said he could not remember the previous night but he realised she was dead when there was no response.
"I felt cold panic in my heart. I rose from the mattress and put on the light. I was horrified and very frightened. I was in shock," Callaghan told Mr Erwan Mill Arden SC, defending.
It was the fourth day of the retrial of Callaghan (34), of St Mary's Road, Crumlin, Dublin, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder, but guilty to the manslaughter of Ms Mooney (29), between September 17th and 19th, 1996, at the flat they shared at Harrington Street in Dublin.
On the Thursday after he had killed her he asked a friend to call the gardai. "My belief was that I alone was responsible for Janet's death, I have always acknowledged that," he said. "My alcoholism and not Janet's alcoholism was effectively the cause of her death."
The jury heard closing submissions yesterday. Mr Justice Carney will charge the jury today before they retire to consider their verdict.