Corkman accused of assaulting his wife told gardaí she fell down stairs

A forensic scientist who examined a clump of hair concluded that it had been pulled from a woman’s head, the jury heard yesterday in the trial of a man who denies assault causing serious harm to his wife at the family home.

They also heard evidence of a statement made by the accused to the gardaí, in which he said that he heard his wife falling down the stairs when he was sitting on a couch in the sitting room, also witnessed her falling and hitting her head in the utility room, and on a previous holiday to Dingle, he said, his wife fell against a wall and injured her ribs.

Anthony Kelleher told Detective Garda Thomas O’Sullivan his wife smoked an occasional cigarette but got dizzy when she did.

Mr Kelleher, aged 42, denies a charge of assaulting his wife, Siobhán Kelleher, causing her serious harm at the family home in Curraheen, Raleigh North, Macroom, Co Cork, on June 12, 2014.

Earlier in the trial, Ms Kelleher replied to every question: “I am not giving evidence, judge.”

She said in two statements that her husband pulled her out of bed by her hair and threw her and kicked her down the stairs and she woke up in hospital with a tube down her throat.

In a third statement, she said that she must have slipped or tripped hanging out clothes and that her husband called the ambulance, and in this statement she apologised to him.

Yesterday, at Cork Circuit Criminal Court, Alan McGee of Forensic Science Ireland said that he was given background information about the case in which it was alleged that Ms Kelleher had been pulled out of bed by the hair and thrown down stairs by her husband.

Dr McGee was also told it was alleged by the injured party’s husband that she had fallen down stairs and had fallen a second time in the utility room.

A clump of hair which was a DNA match for Ms Kelleher was found in a bin in the bathroom at the family home.

Dr McGee examined the clump of hair under a microscope and concluded that it had been pulled out, rather than having been shed naturally.

Tom Creed, defending, suggested to the court that there was something that looked like white chewing gum attached to the clump, which might have explained why the clump of hair was pulled out.

Dr McGee said of the white substance, which he did not analyse: “It is loosely associated with the clump, it is not embedded in the clump.”

On June 13, 2014, Mr Kelleher told Det Gda Thomas O’Sullivan that his wife suffered from depression following a birth and had been prescribed anti-depressants for three months.

In notes read yesterday to the jury, Mr Kelleher said: “I believed she had a drink problem.

“Siobhán fell down the stairs at our home. This happened at about 8pm. She fell half way to the landing. I was able to pick her up and put her to bed. She slept for a few hours and got up.

“She smokes an odd cigarette now and again. She would get very unsteady on her feet… if she has a cigarette. Siobhán said she was going to bed. She was after drinking or smoking.

“I heard a bang, an almighty bang followed by thud, thud, thud.

“I went out to look. I couldn’t believe it. I did lift her up by the arm. She said: ‘I am alright’.

“She fell against the wall, about two and a half feet up from the ground she caught the side of her head.

“She was bleeding from the head… I found her lying on the floor… She was completely lifeless. I put her in the recovery position. I immediately rang 999.

“Siobhán fell in Dingle and hurt herself against a wall. She was after buying a naggin of vodka. I believe she damaged her ribs that time.”

Judge Seán Ó Donnabháin instructed the jury not to read media reports of the trial or articles about domestic violence or anything like that, and to return to Cork Circuit Criminal Court for the fourth day of the trial on Monday.