Paula Farrell pleads not guilty to murder at trial

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

Paula Farrell pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter at the Central Criminal Court. The case concerns the fatal stabbing of Wayne McQuillan at her Drogheda home on 1 January 2014. The proceedings were reported on 5 March 2020.

Opening the prosecution case on 5 March 2020, Gerard Clarke SC said Farrell had described to gardaí how she stabbed Mr McQuillan four times after an argument. He said one witness would say that Farrell later appeared at the door and told people not to call an ambulance.

Gardaí drove Mr McQuillan to hospital because of a delay in getting an ambulance. He suffered a cardiac arrest on the way, was resuscitated at hospital and died after a second cardiac arrest. The trial continued before Mr Justice Michael White and a jury.