Man hit his sleeping wife with a hammer on her birthday

A man has gone on trial charged with attempting to murder his wife on her birthday by hitting her over the head with a hammer while she slept.

The Central Criminal Court heard the accused had left their Dublin home early on his wife’s 32nd birthday, before returning with flowers for her. However, the prosecutor said that instead of bringing the flowers upstairs to his sleeping wife, he brought up a lump hammer and hit her over the head with it at least three times.

The court heard the woman was now confined to a wheelchair most of the time, had communication difficulties and would depend on full-time care for the rest of her life.