Marta Herda’s Garda statements read at murder trial

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

Marta Herda’s first Garda statements were read to the Central Criminal Court on 11 July 2016, the fifth day of her trial. The proceedings were reported on 12 July 2016.

Herda, 29, is charged with murdering Csaba Orsas, 31, at South Quay, Arklow, on 26 March 2013. She has pleaded not guilty. The report said Orsas drowned after a car entered a harbour.

Garda Anthony Crehan testified that he took a voluntary statement from Herda in hospital, where she had been taken after swimming from her submerged car, and another at Arklow station that afternoon.

In her statements, Herda said Orsas had followed her for two years, texted her and told her he loved her. She said he came to her car and wanted her to take them to the beach. She described being afraid as he felt her left leg while she drove, and remembered hitting the accelerator. She said she drove into the water because she wanted it all to stop. She said he had not hit her, although he had grabbed her very hard once and she had pushed him.

Dr Donal Bailey testified that, when asked whether she knew what would happen when the car entered the water, Herda nodded, became tearful and said she knew Orsas could not swim. Under defence cross-examination, he agreed she had difficulty with English tenses. He thought she was speaking retrospectively, rather than describing what she knew beforehand, and maintained his conclusion that she had no homicidal intent.

Nurse Claire Best testified that Herda said she had not given him a chance, that he did not think she would do it and that she knew he could not swim. Under cross-examination, the nurse confirmed that the words “he didn’t believe I’d do it” were absent from her notes that morning.

The trial was continuing.