Brighid McLaughlin, a sister of Siobhán Kearney, said her late sister had come to see her on the evening of February 6th, some weeks before her death.
"She looked tired but she was in good spirits," said Ms McLaughlin, an artist who had previously worked for the Sunday Independent.
Ms McLaughlin said she was aware that Siobhán had been having marital difficulties and had referred her to a solicitor she had got to know through her work as a journalist.
On the morning of the 28th, she received a call from one of her sisters telling her that something had happened and she and her sister started driving over to Siobhán's house. On the way over they received a call telling them that their sister was dead. "It was totally shocking."
Brighid agreed with prosecuting counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that they were so upset at the news they got lost and were delayed arriving at the Kearney home.
When they arrived, the ambulance crew had arrived as had members of both families.
"Brian Kearney was also there sitting down. I said hello and he came up to me. 'Poor you, Brighid, and all that's happened to you and Michael.' "
Brighid told Vaughan Buckley that her husband, Michael, had died on July 4th, 2003.
"I thought it was a very odd thing to say, extremely odd. It put me back. He sat down and hyperventilated then but it was very strange behaviour."
She told Mr Vaughan Buckley that she had been surprised to receive a phone call from Mr Kearney in 2005. "He told me Siobhán wasn't well and she was going into St John of Gods." She said when she phoned her sister afterwards Siobhán was "appalled".
"I rang her immediately and she said she never had any intention of going to St John of Gods. She was absolutely fine."
She said she was aware her sister had been admitted in 1999 but the reason was "stress from living with Brian". She told Mr Vaughan Buckley that several days after Siobhán's death she went to see Brian with her sister Niamh.
"Brian Kearney unlocked three locks and let us in. He was very cold." She asked "what happened to Siobhán and he said cardiac arrest or strangulation. That was his reply. I'll never forget it."
She told Patrick Gageby SC, defending, in cross-examination, that she could not be any more specific about when Mr Kearney rang her in 2005. "I've had a lot going on in my life in the last couple of years."
In his opening speech to the jury, Mr Vaughan Buckley told them that the prosecution's case was that Siobhán Kearney had died from strangulation that had been made to look like suicide.
He told the jury that the case before them was based on a substantial amount of circumstantial evidence. They would hear from experts who would tell them the vacuum cleaner cord found wrapped around the body could not have borne her weight for long enough.
The trial continues this morning before Mr Justice White and the jury.