Siobhán Kearney, whose husband is on trial for her murder, was seeking advice on marital separation the day before her death, the Central Criminal Court has heard.
Brian Kearney (50), Carnroe, Knocknashee, Goatstown, Dublin, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife on February 28th, 2006 - his 49th birthday. Ms Kearney (38) was found strangled in her bedroom that morning.
Philomena Daly, who was working at the Citizen's Advice Centre at Dundrum town centre, Sandyford Road, in 2006, told the court yesterday that on February 27th, a woman called seeking an appointment for advice on a marital separation. She said the woman gave her name as Siobhán Kearney.
Ms Daly gave her an appointment for March 9th but she had asked for an earlier date. She told her that no earlier dates were available.
Earlier, a sister of Ms Kearney told the court that she first met Brian Kearney at the "afters" of her wedding in 1989.
Aisling McLaughlin told Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that her sister and Brian Kearney were engaged in 1995 but split up the same year, breaking off the engagement. Ms Kearney moved to Clontarf in Dublin, where she established a catering business before moving to Blackrock. Ms McLaughlin said that they reunited and then married in January 2002.
The couple bought a hotel in Spain, the Hotel Salvia, which they opened in March 2003. Siobhán, a qualified chef, was involved in both administration and kitchen duties, she said.
Ms McLaughlin told Mr Vaughan Buckley that on the morning Ms Kearney's body was found, she drove another sister, Brighid McLaughlin, to the house in Goatstown. They arrived at about 10.45am and that half an hour later, Mr Kearney arrived.
"I told him to get out, but my mother told me to stop," Ms McLaughlin told the jury.
She said that she then heard Mr Kearney say to Brighid "how terrible it was, especially after Michael's death". Brighid McLaughlin's husband, Michael, died on July 4th, 2003.
Ms McLaughlin continued: "He [ Mr Kearney] was sitting down after that and proceeded to breathe heavily." She told the jury that Mr Kearney then "stopped his heavy breathing and gave clear instructions to the family" about toys his son would need.
"When he was finished giving his instructions, he resumed breathing very heavily," she said.
The boy had earlier been taken to Mr Kearney's parents' house.
Ms McLaughlin told Patrick Gageby SC, defending, that her sister voluntarily admitted herself to St John of God hospital in December 1999 for two weeks because she was "worn out from working so hard".
She had not been living with Mr Kearney for a number of years at this time, she said.
Mr Gageby said to Ms McLaughlin that it was "quite incorrect" for anyone to suggest to the jury that Ms Kearney was in St John of God's because of the "stress of living with Brian Kearney".
Ms McLaughlin said that she could not say.
Anne Clohessy, a pharmacist, told the jury that she had known Ms Kearney for eight years and that they would meet twice or three times a week. She met her and her son the day before she died at about 5pm at the top of Grafton Street.
They went for a cup of coffee, then walked to Ms Clohessy's apartment on Wolfe Tone Street, where they had dinner. They were joined by Ms Clohessy's partner, Julian Lawlor.
She said that Ms Kearney was in "her usual positive form" and that they chatted about her son, "which school he was to be enrolled in".
Mr Vaughan Buckley asked Ms Clohessy if Ms Kearney was likely to have taken her own life. "I knew Siobhán very well, she wouldn't do it." Ms Clohessy said she was aware that her friend was having marriage difficulties.
She said they ate at about 6.30pm and that afterward she drove Ms Kearney and her son home.
The court also heard evidence from Emer Brennan, manager and receptionist of a hair salon close to the Kearney home, that Ms Kearney phoned on February 27th and made an appointment for the following day.
Jacinta Kane, secretary of Our Lady's Grove primary school in Goatstown, told Dominic McGinn, prosecuting, that on February 13th, 2006, Ms Kearney asked about enrolling her son in the school the following September. Ms Kane said she completed the application form and that the school subsequently sent out a letter offering her son a place in the school.
The court also heard from a man who was working at Kelleher's Electrical, Sandyford Industrial Estate, in February 2006.
Colm Ward told the court that Mr Kearney, an electrical contractor, would call every morning to Kelleher's between 8.30am- 9am where he would meet his employees before delegating work. He said Mr Kearney arrived between 7.50am and 8am on the morning of his wife's death, "somewhat earlier" than usual.
The trial before Mr Justice Barry White and the jury continues.