O’Brien: I had no hand, act or part in wife’s murder

A WATERFORD man told a Central Criminal Court jury that he had “no hand, act or part” in his wife’s murder and had no idea he would end up facing a murder investigation.

Bus driver John O’Brien, aged 41, with an address in Ballinakill Downs, Co Waterford, denies murdering 35-year-old Meg Walsh on a date between October 1, 2006, and October 15, 2006.

The mother-of-one’s body was recovered from the River Suir on October 15, 2006. She had died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Giving evidence in his own defence, O’Brien told defence counsel Paddy McCarthy that he had taken “no hand, act or part” in his wife’s murder.

He told prosecuting counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley he had not told gardaí any lies. “I didn’t think it was going to come to this. I didn’t know it was going to be a murder investigation.”

He denied that this was because he had not expected the body to be found.

O’Brien rejected the suggestion that he had a motive to kill his wife. He said that he had been in the process of signing over the deeds of the house to her after he had assaulted her some days earlier. This move, he said, was “just to prove it would never happen again”.

Mr Buckley told him that not only did he have a motive, but he had an opportunity to murder her. “You did in fact murder your wife, Meg Walsh. You had an opportunity to kill her and a motive to kill her and you did it. You killed her.”

O’Brien replied: “No, I didn’t.”

O’Brien said he had been “about 45 or 50 minutes out” in his account of Sunday, October 1, when he said he last saw his wife. He said he had returned home at around 5pm, although it could have been closer to 6pm, and had heard Ms Walsh leave the house and drive off at around 8.30pm.

He said that a colleague, Kevin Barry, who had given evidence earlier in the trial, was “totally wrong”.

Mr Barry told the jury that, on October 2 or 3, O’Brien had told him he had returned home from a walk at 5pm that evening and Meg’s car had already been gone. O’Brien said he did not think Mr Barry was lying. “That’s what he thinks I told him.”

O’Brien agreed with Mr Buckley that he was a black belt in taekwando, but said he had not used martial arts for 20 years.

He said he had told gardaí searching for Meg’s passport where he thought she kept it. “Where I told them I thought it was, that’s where they found it.”

However, he agreed he had not found it himself. He said he had searched the bedside locker where it was found but must have concentrated more on the two drawers it wasn’t in.