‘I told her to run. I thought she was being attacked or something happened’

HOURS before a young Irish woman was stabbed to death by her older lover, her mother had pleaded with her to run away from him.

The woman had told her parents she wanted to leave him because he was “driving her mad”, her father told a court yesterday.

Indian-born alternative therapist Christopher Newman, aged 62, is accused of repeatedly knifing Georgina Eager, aged 28, in her Dublin bedroom two years ago.

Ms Eager, from Trudderbridge, Co Wicklow, worked for Newman at his clinic in Dublin and lived in the house next door.

Newman, a British citizen also known as Saph Dean and “The Professor”, denies murdering her, claiming self-defence.

The girl’s mother, Sylvia, broke down in the witness box as she told of the tearful telephone call with Georgina hours before she died: “She said, ‘I want to come home’.

“I told her to run. I thought she was being attacked outside or something had happened.”

Yesterday, Ms Eager’s father, George, said: “Georgina said to me that she wanted to leave the clinic. The Professor was driving her mad.”

Georgina’s three sisters yesterday cried as they gave evidence at the trial.

One of the sisters, Brenda, sobbed as she took the oath before giving evidence and when asked how close she was to her.

She replied: “Very close. We were best friends.”

She said she had never met “The Professor” but had spoken to him when he had called Georgina.

“He was checking up on her,” she said.

Another sister of the dead woman, Sylvia Eager, added that Georgina had told her she wanted to move away from the clinic and did not like the area.

“When she said that to me her voice was never like that before. Her voice was full of fear. I realise that now when I think of it.”

It was the second day of the murder trial expected to last between four and five weeks.