A woman whose husband is on trial for her murder made a complaint to gardai about him less than two weeks before her disappearance a Central Criminal Court jury has heard.
Sergeant Eric Gavigan told prosecuting counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley that Meg Walsh called in to Waterford Garda Station on September 22nd 2006 and alleged that her husband had assaulted her two days beforehand.
Bus driver, John O’Brien (41) with an address in Ballinakill Downs, Co Waterford denies murdering the 35-year-old mother of one on a date between October 1st 2006 and October 15th 2006.
Sgt Gavigan told Mr Buckley that Ms Walsh refused to take the matter further at that time.
The jury has previously heard from Dr Bernadette O’Leary who said that Ms Walsh came to her surgery on the 22nd with bruising and swelling to the backs of both hands and also to her right shoulder. Dr O’Leary said she advised her to go to the gardai.
The jury today saw video footage showing Ms Walsh’s silver Mitsubishi Carisma being left in the car park of the Uluru Pub in Waterford City.
Garda Alan White told Mr McGinn who told him that he found the car parked in the back of the car park at about 1.15am on October 4th.
He said the car could be seen driving into a space at the back of the car park. After a few seconds someone could be seen getting out of the driver’s door and a few seconds later the hazard lights flashed twice.
He agreed with defence counsel that the quality of the footage was not good enough to see whether there were one or two people in the car or whether they were male or female.
Sebastian Danhel gave evidence he had worked as a delivery driver for Godfather’s Pizza near the Uluru Bar. He said on October 2rd he saw a silver Mitsubishi Carisma parked in the car park between 5pm and 6pm.
He said he noticed the make of car particularly because he had bought a Carisma two days previously.
He noticed the car again at around 8 o’clock. It had moved. This time he noticed somebody was in the car. He told Mr Buckley he saw a man sitting in the driver’s seat. He appeared to be looking for something on the passenger seat. He noticed the car again shortly after 10am in a third position. This was the position the car remained in until it was found.
Owen Walsh, who returned to the stand for the third day, gave evidence he had never been in Meg Walsh’s car. He had never driven her car or had anything whatsoever to do with her disappearance.
In his previous evidence Mr Walsh said that he had kissed Ms Walsh on the Saturday night after a night of drinking.
Det Garda Gerry Whelan gave evidence that he and his colleague Det Garda Kevin Nolan went to meet Mr O’Brien on October 2nd after his wife had been reported missing.
Det Gda Whelan said he informed Mr O’Brien that gardai needed to take a witness statement from him.
He said the accused was “very nervous”. “He was sweating a lot. He kept trying to wet his lips with his tongue but his mouth was too dry.”
On the journey to his house Mr O’Brien continued to be very anxious and nervous. He told gardai he did not know where his wife was but that she had gone off before and stayed in Jury’s Hotel for the night before returning home.
Det Gda Whelan said when they arrived at the house he and his colleague had a look around the house. There was a bin outside the back door. Beside it was a piece of rolled up carpet. There was also a garden shed which appeared locked.
Mr O’Brien produced a large bunch of keys but his hand was shaking so much he couldn’t get the key into the lock. When he finally succeeded he couldn’t get the key open so he “got a bit aggressive” to get it to open.
Det Gda Whelan said he noticed there was wet clothing on the washing line. He went back inside to the utility room and was standing by the washing machine. “John became very anxious as I was standing there. I got the impression he didn’t want me standing there.”
The court heard that Mr O’Brien’s formal statement to gardai outlined the circumstances in which he found his wife kissing Owen Walsh in the spare bedroom of their home after a night’s drinking.
Mr O’Brien said they finished drinking at around 5 a.m and Meg suggested that Mr Walsh stay the night. He said he went back downstairs to turn out the lights and when he came back up, the door to the spare room was closed.
“Meg and Owen had their arms around each other kissing. I said what the f*** is going on? Owen started apologising.” Mr O’Brien told gardai he then ordered Mr Walsh out of the house.
When he had gone he asked Meg why she had kissed him. She replied “If you paid me more attention. I told her I did pay her more attention.” They couple slept in separate bedrooms that night.
Mr O’Brien said the next day he got up around 1 p.m. Meg was still asleep so he went out in the car and came home about 5 p.m. Meg was watching television. He said he asked her again why she had kissed Mr Walsh. “She told me I drove her to it.”
He said he went upstairs to watch television in the bedroom. He heard Meg moving around the house and heard her leave at around 8.30 p.m. He heard her car start and drive off. He had not seen her since.
Det Gda Whelan said that the next day, October 3rd, he went to Mr O’Brien’s house to look for Meg’s passport. Mr O’Brien met them at the door.
“He was very anxious and nervous,” Det Whelan said.
He said he had searched every corner of the house for Meg’s passport but had not been able to find it. He agreed to allow gardai to search the house.
Det Gda Whelan said that he found Meg’s passport after about twenty minutes of searching, in the top drawer of her bedside locker hidden under some underwear.
Det Gda Nolan told the court Mr O’Brien did not once ask how the investigation was going or enquired if gardai had spoken to his wife. He also offered no help whatsoever to gardai throughout the investigation.
Also in court today, solicitor Gerard O’Herlihy gave evidence that Ms Walsh came to see him on September 25th 2006. On her instruction he sent a letter to the accused alleging that he, Mr O’Brien, had assaulted her on September 20th.
Three days later, on September 28th, Mr O’Herlihy sent a letter to a bank manager enclosing a form of authority to the title deeds of the house signed by both Ms Walsh and Mr O’Brien. This form was to transfer the house from joint ownership into Ms Walsh’s name only.
The manager of Bank of Ireland in Waterford, Michael Lauhoff, gave evidence that he subsequently posted out the relevant forms but that by that time Ms Walsh had been reported missing.
The jury also heard that Ms Walsh had made similar arrangements with regard to life insurance.
The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White. It is due to last three weeks.