Witness saw woman arguing on phone on day of man’s drowning

A witness noticed a woman arguing on the phone in a car shortly before the accused is alleged to have driven her passenger colleague into a deep harbour, where he drowned, a murder trial has heard that.

Marta Herda, aged 29, of Pairc Na Saile, Emoclew Rd, Arklow, Co Wicklow, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Hungarian man Csaba Orsas, aged 31, at South Quay, Arklow, around 6am on March 26, 2013.

At the Central Criminal Court, Paul Hickey testified that he left his home for work around 5.20 that morning. Within five minutes, he walked past a gold or silver Volkswagen Passat parked half on the Wexford Rd and half in a parking space. The engine was running, he said.