THE BODY of Waterford woman Meg Walsh was in the water for at least seven days before being pulled from the river Suir, the State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy told the Central Criminal Court yesterday.
The court heard that her body was found floating face down in the river Suir, naked, with a heavy metal chain around her neck. Her long blonde hair was matted with seaweed, several of her nails were cracked and split and she was covered in a film of mud.
Her husband, 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.
Dr Cassidy said she had two complex skull fractures that resembled an indented jigsaw puzzle. She agreed that the injury would have been caused like "hitting a boiled egg".
She said that the skull fractures would have been caused by at least two blows from a heavy blunt object, which could have been a crook lock, mentioned already in the trial.
The injuries to her shoulder, arms and left hand would have been defensive although the injuries to her right shoulder and arm had been inflicted several hours before death, possibly as long as 24 hours.
The jury also heard from Inspector John Hunt who told prosecuting counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley SC that Mr O'Brien told him he had assaulted his wife on September 20th.
Insp Hunt said Mr O'Brien claimed that he had gone for a drive on Sunday October 1st after arguing with his wife the previous night when he caught her kissing a mutual friend. He said he drove his own car to Tramore and sat in it reading the Sunday papers and listening to the radio. Insp Hunt told Mr Buckley that Mr O'Brien had been picked up by CCTV cameras in the centre of Waterford at this time.
He said Mr O'Brien told him the couple had started fighting during a meal out with his parents. She called him a "fat bastard" and he called her a "fat bitch".
He said when they got home Meg started shouting again. He said he was going to bed and she grabbed him. When he pulled her hand away she started screaming. "I lost it. I hit her on the head and the back of the head with my fist and told her to stop screaming." He said she ran into the kitchen and opened the window. He pulled her away from the window, breaking her bracelet. He said she had "a bad bruise on the arm".
Mr O'Brien said he caught her by the shoulders and her body and pulled her towards the table. When they sat at the table she calmed down. He said he had recently signed a form which signed over the title deeds of the house to Meg. He said he had also lent Meg an extra €11,000 because the bank would not allow her to take over the house unless her debts were paid.
He told gardaí that after the assault she said to him "Look, if I give you €150,000 would you go? I could buy you out and you could have enough to buy a nice house." He refused, saying "I don't want to lose you. I will make everything up to you."
Insp Hunt said Mr O'Brien told him he had previously been married but was separated in 1998. The marriage lasted for three years and the couple had no children.
He told gardaí he met Meg Walsh on holiday in Crete in 2000. She was staying at the same resort with her first husband, Colman Keating. They began an affair during the holiday.