Murder trial hears evidence from accused's sister

Closing submissions are due to be heard at the Central Criminal Court tomorrow in the joint trial of a man and woman accused of murdering her violent partner.

Evidence in the lenghty defence case closed today in the trial of Ms Jacqui Noble and Mr Paul Hopkins, who deny the murder of Derek Benson, Ms Noble's former partner.

The court heard evidence from Ms Noble’s sister, Ms Wendy Dalton, who broke down as she told the jury of witnessing Derek Benson assaulting her sister on a number of occasions.

Questioned by defence counsel Mr Paul Burns BL, she told how Benson also threatened her (the witness) with his fists and then pulled a knife on her boyfriend when he tried to intervene.

Weeping, she said: "You could be just with him in the same room and he'd just turn around and give her a clatter in the face or maybe a box."

She recalled one occasion in their parents' house when she was in the kitchen buttering a slice of bread for Jacqui.

Derek Benson walked in and began arguing and threatening. He put up his fists and said: "Don't think I won't hit you either". Ms Dalton told the court that when her boyfriend tried to stop him "Derek pulled a knife out of his back pocket".

The witness recalled another incident in 2000, when Jacqui was staying in their parents' house.

Their father was dying at the time. Ms Dalton walked in to find "Jacqui's hair all over the place and a big mark on her cheek." She said Benson was fighting with Jacqui because she would not go back to his flat to get a birthday card he had bought her.

"Once you see Derek you'd always be shaking," she recalled. She said "his whole face" would be contorted and he would almost "be foaming at the mouth. It was frightening to look at. My legs would turn to jelly".

In other evidence, the jury heard that in 1993, the couple's daughter, Kelly Noble, was assessed in St Claire's Unit of Temple Street Children's Hospital.

Ms Anne O'Connor, a clinical psychologist attached to St Claire's in 1993, agreed with defence counsel that the unit assessed suspected child sexual abuse victims.

Jacqui Noble (aged 38) of Knowth Court, Ballymun, Dublin 11, and Paul Hopkins (aged 24) of Sillogue Road, Ballymun, have both pleaded not guilty to the murder of Derek Benson (aged 33) at Sandy Hill Avenue Ballymun on May 13, 2000.