‘I found Celine unconscious after violent row over bird food’

THE Eamonn Lillis murder trial has heard that the accused never hit his wife with a brick during a fatal row which erupted over his failure to put out food for birds.

The TV advertising producer has also claimed that he persisted in lying about a phantom intruder at their family home to gardaí because he didn’t want anyone to know that the couple had a row and caused physical injuries to each other.

Lillis, aged 52, denies the murder of his wife, Celine Cawley, at their home at Windgate Road, Howth, on December 15, 2008.

The accused yesterday took the witness stand on the ninth day of his murder trial before a jury of six men and six women to give his version of the events which led to his wife’s death.

He told the Central Criminal Court that a row broke out after he returned from walking the couple’s dogs, when she berated him for forgetting to put out meal worms for robins as she had requested.

Lillis claimed the argument quickly became “extremely vocal and nasty” with both parties hurling abuse at each other.

Among other things, Ms Cawley had accused him of not doing enough to generate work for their business, while he retorted that she was only concerned about her own image as “superwoman”.

The accused acknowledged that he was “extremely angry” at being hit in the face with the brick by his wife, although he accepted she may not have intended it to happen.

Lillis also offered his explanation for the three wounds to his wife’s head, which the Deputy State Pathologist, Dr Michael Curtis, has stated in earlier evidence were due to blunt force trauma. Dr Curtis also claimed they were one of the major factors causing the death of the 46-year-old mother of one.

The defendant said he believed the first injury was sustained when she slipped on the decking and hit her head off a brick as she followed him outside of the house.

Lillis said it was possible the second injury was sustained when he pushed her up against a window as she had let out “an almighty scream”.

The third injury may have occurred when he pushed her forehead with the heel of his hand as they both lay on the ground after stumbling.

Lillis explained he took this action because she was biting his finger and wouldn’t let go.

He claimed the row stopped at this point and the pair agreed that they would make up a story about coming across an intruder in order to explain their injuries to their daughter, who was at school.

He denied hitting Ms Cawley with the brick at any stage during the row but accepted that he was “a major participant” in the fight that led to her fatal injuries.

Lillis said he left his wife alone in the back garden as she had nodded to him that she was OK, despite some bleeding to her head.

“I didn’t think she was seriously hurt,” he remarked.

He added: “She told me to F-off and leave me alone and go away.”

Lillis outlined how he spent the next 10-12 minutes indoors cleaning his wounds, changing his blood-stained clothes and trying to make the house look like it had been burgled.

He wiped a tear from his eye as he described finding Celine unconscious when he returned to the patio area.

Lillis said he told gardaí and others about an intruder because he didn’t want anyone to know they had a row and because he did not believe his wife had been seriously injured.

“I couldn’t see any way out. I had boxed myself into a corner.

“All week I was surrounded by Celine’s family and friends. I felt extremely trapped and there was no way I could explain this properly,” he said.

The accused later added: “I had never been in a situation like this where my wife is dead. I couldn’t believe it.”

Under cross-examination, Lillis was forced to admit that he had repeatedly lied about the events surrounding his wife’s death to a large number of people.

However, he stressed that his extra-marital affair which he had begun with beauty therapist Jean Treacy in the previous two months had nothing to do with his wife’s death.

The victim’s elderly father, Jim Cawley, appeared quite distressed at a number of stages during the proceedings, especially when Lillis described how he informed their only child about how her mother had died.

The trial resumes at 11.30am on Monday with further cross-examination of Lillis by counsel for the Director of Public Prosecutions Mary Ellen Ring.