Courts / Sligo / Report

Husband described strangling wife to gardai, murder trial hears

Date
2020-03-09

Stage
Trial

Primary locality
Sligo

County
Sligo

Summary

At the Central Criminal Court, a jury has heard evidence from the eighth garda interview with a 34-year-old man charged with the murder of his wife. The accused, from Crozon Park in Ballymote, Sligo, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter. During questioning at Ballymote Garda Station on May 2nd, 2018, he admitted to strangling his wife following her return from a night out on April 29th, 2018. He told detectives he woke when she arrived home and, after she pushed and slapped him during an argument, he strangled her. He described feeling "very big regret and grief" afterwards. The accused also told gardai he subsequently moved her body to a car boot but dropped it on the kitchen floor as it was too heavy. In earlier interviews, he had provided an account involving threats from an unknown man, but later admitted these claims were false. The trial at the Central Criminal Court is continuing.