THE wife of an Army corporal told gardai she shot her husband in the back with a shotgun because he kept nagging her, a murder trial jury was told yesterday.
Gary Cotter was shot in the back as he lay in bed, the jury, heard. Sgt Sean Donovan said Mrs Norma Cotter told gardai, that her husband, Gary, kept nagging her over who would collect their two and a half year old son, Christopher, from his grandfather's house.
She told gardai: "When I shot him he just sort of jumped up this way and he said `Oh, Jesus Christ'. I just ran then when I saw the blood."
The sergeant was giving evidence on the opening day of the trial at the Central Criminal Court of Mrs Cotter (28). She pleaded not guilty to the murder of her husband, Gary Cotter (40), at their home at Broomfield West, Midleton, Co Cork, on January 3rd, 1995.
Sgt Sean Donovan said Mrs Cotter was arrested and taken to Midleton Garda Station where her father, Mr Gerry O'Driscoll, saw her. Mr O'Driscoll comforted her by putting his arms around her and asked her why she had shot Gary. She said she just shot him - he kept nagging her and she shot him and she repeated over and over that she was sorry.
Later, she told gardai that after an argument she went downstairs and got a shotgun. She said she fired one shot and did not mean to kill Gary. "I got the gun and I shot him. I didn't mean to," she said.
Asked where Gary was when she shot him she replied that he was lying on the bed and she shot him in the back. "He just jumped up and rolled over," she added.
She said she had been out at her friend Rose Fenton's house and went to bed. After an hour or two Gary started complaining and she got sick. She said Gary was roaring and she went downstairs and got the gun.
She said that when her husband came home from duty at Portlaoise Prison he used to want to do nothing for his three days off except drink. She said their son was cranky over Christmas and she wanted Gary to collect him. She said her husband had another gun upstairs in the wardrobe but had taken a part out of it.
Sgt Donovan said Mrs Cotter started to give gardai a statement but later, after consulting her solicitor, she made a written statement in which she said she did not want to make a further statement.
A neighbour of the Cotters, Mrs Anne Dean, said she was awakened at 5.10a.m. by banging at the front door. Mrs Cotter was standing there with a gun in her hand.
She said she was after shooting Gary, Mrs Dean said. Mrs Cotter told her Gary kept nagging her and she went downstairs and got the gun and stood at the bedroom door. Gary had his back to her and she shot him.
Mrs Noel Howard said he had bought a whiskey for Gary Cotter in a pub on Midleton's Main Street on the night of January 2nd. Mrs Cotter then said: "That's an ould black eye for me, don't give him that."
Miss Rose Fenton, cross examined by Mr Barry White SC, defence, said she "vaguely" recalled an incident in 1992 when Norma Cotter had come to her for help. Miss Fenton said she saw a gun in the kitchen.
"As I recall she was rather upset. Gary was in the kitchen with the gun and he actually handed it to me. It was five years ago," she said. She did not see any physical abuse but agreed that Norma had told her about arguments she had with her husband.
The State Pathologist, Dr John Harbison, said he saw Cotter's body partly covered by a duvet. He found a hole in the duvet where the shot had passed through. He found a gunshot wound in Cotter's lower chest. Another shot had been fired and bad hit a wardrobe.
Dr Harbison said Cotter was "a healthy man, as one would expect for a soldier". He said Cotter had died due to shock and haemorrhage as a result of laceration and wounds in his right lung from a single shotgun wound to his chest.
He said Cotter had been shot from behind and he deduced that he was turning away from the gun that was fired and was stooping forward at the time.
Dr Harbison said the gun appeared to have been fired from a range of two or three yards. A blood sample had shown that Cotter had three times the legally permissible level of alcohol for drivers in his blood.
Det Garda Michael O'Sullivan said when he arrived at the house at 5.30 a.m. Mrs Cotter was with neighbours and she said her husband kept nagging her and she shot him. She was wearing a nightdress, socks and a coat and was very upset.
He went to the bedroom and saw Mr Cotter's body. He also saw bloodstains and vomit on the sheets.
Earlier, Mr Michael Feehan SC, prosecuting, said the killing was "a tragic and sad case". He told the jury they would be satisfied that Mrs Norma Cotter killed her husband by shooting him in the back as he lay in his bed.
Mr Feehan said the issue for the jury was whether Mrs Cotter was guilty of murder or manslaughter.
Mr Feehan said Cotter had served with the Defence Forces in the Lebanon. At the time of the incident, he had just returned to Midleton after finishing guard duty at Portlaoise Prison.
Mr and Mrs Cotter went out for the evening and their son was looked after by his grandfather. The couple went to a pub at around 8.40 p.m. and had a few drinks. Cotter was drinking pints of stout and Mrs Cotter was drinking half pints of cider.
They went to another pub soon after 10 p.m.
Mr Feehan said it was a very pleasant evening and they met friends. Gary Cotter had about eight or nine pints of stout and maybe a whiskey and Mrs Cotter have five or six pints of cider.
He said drink was a factor in the case but "not a great factor". The Cotters then went to a disco and Cotter was tired and went home at 1.20 am.
Mrs Cotter stayed on and then went to a woman friend's house. The women were given a lift and stopped at the Cotter's house where Mrs Cotter collected a bottle of vodka and a flagon of cider. Mrs Cotter went home at around 4 a.m.
Mr Feehan said the shooting was from no more than two paces and two shots were fired.
The trial before Mr Justice Lavan and a jury of six men and six women continues today.