A young Dublin physics student told a murder trial at the Central Criminal Court yesterday that his mother, accused of killing his father, just kept saying what an awful thing she had done.
Mr Brian O'Neill said: "She said she'd killed my father. She was broken."
When questioned by Mr Felix McEnroy SC, defending, about their relationship now, he said: "She's the person who brought me up. I love her."
Mr O'Neill (23) was giving evidence in the trial of his mother, Ms Dolores O'Neill (50), who denies murdering her husband, Mr Declan O'Neill, on or about July 22nd, 2002, at their home in Coolamber Park, Knocklyon, Dublin.
On the second day of the trial yesterday, Mr O'Neill said his father had not really been involved in his or his brother's lives for the final couple of years of his life.
He told the court that sometimes he had to break up serious rows between his parents, and was in favour of them separating as a couple. "We got on much better as a family when he wasn't there."
Mr O'Neill said that by July 2002, his father's drinking was "out of control".
He said there was a constant state of tension in the house with the father always coming and going, but "I was pretty sure where I stood with him. I kept out of his way. . . once he ran out because of the way I looked at him."
Mr O'Neill agreed that he did not believe his mother's stories about getting facial injuries by accident. Nor did he believe her the night his father died when she told him her bruise was a result of her husband accidentally opening a door on her.
Mr O'Neill said his mother was never a violent person, and treated her sons well. "When I was younger, she used to tutor other parents on not hitting their children."
He said that on the night of July 22nd, 2002, he returned from the cinema with his brother at 11.40 p.m. His mother was sitting in his father's car outside the house. She asked them to get in. He said he had to ask her a number of times before she eventually told them they were going to her sister Ann's house in Ashford, Co Wicklow.
"She just kept saying, 'No'. I kept thinking Declan had done something. . . hit her. I asked was Declan okay. She wasn't answering me."
Later in the house, when his uncle, Mr John Hughes, told him what had happened, he went upstairs to his mother.
"She just kept saying what an awful thing she'd done. She just broke down. She said she'd killed my father. She was broken."
Mr O'Neill's younger brother, Mr Conor O'Neill (17), also gave evidence yesterday. He spoke about his trip to Cork with his parents the weekend before his father died. The night before returning to Dublin, he heard a loud bang in his parents' room, and the next morning his mother's face was bruised.
Ms O'Neill's supervisor at the time of the killing described her as a "very, quiet, gentle person, whose voice was never raised". Ms Sandra Kavanagh, of the Equality Authority, said Ms O'Neill "got on very well with her colleagues, who thought very highly of her".
Garda David Connolly was one of the officers who visited the house the night of the killing. He told the court that from the door of the room he could see blood stains on the bed where the body was, on the floor, wall, and carving knife. There was also blood on the ceiling.
He said he travelled with a colleague to the Hughes's home in Ashford, bringing with him the news that Declan O'Neill had been pronounced dead. When Mr John Hughes broke that news to Ms O'Neill, "she cried out loud".
He also described Ms O'Neill during the initial interview. "She was distraught. Towards the end of the interview, she stood up and started pacing the room."
The trial continues today.