Child witnessed murder, court hears

The young son of a Jamaican woman allegedly beaten to death with a lump hammer saw his mother being killed, a witness has told a murder trial jury.

Nicola Curtis, the sister of the deceased, was giving evidence at the Central Criminal Court in the trial of Goodwill Udechukwu (aged 32) with a previous address at Royal Canal View, Royal Canal Bank, Phibsboro who denies the murder of his wife Natasha Gray (aged 25) at the same address on February 18, 2003.

The mother-of-two died from head injuries after the prosecution say she was attacked with a lump hammer by the accused.

On her second day under cross-examination Mrs Curtis was asked by Mr Pieter Le Vert BL about a statement she had made to the gardaí this year in which she described being woken up by two of the children in the house.

In the statement she said Ms Gray’s son was on top of her and punched her in the head. When she put the children out of the room she said she saw the accused in her sister’s room. She said he was naked on top and had a white shirt in his hand.

In her statement she said: “He looked at me and I looked at him.”

Twenty minutes later she said she got a call from the accused, which woke her up. It was later that afternoon that she discovered her sister’s body.

Mr Le Vert put it to her that in her first statements to the gardaí after her sister was killed she did not mention the accused wearing the white shirt.

He also put it to her that she had told gardaí that Mr Udechukwu was wearing a dark shirt with a cream stripe on the day of the killing. She replied: “I can correct my statement if that is the case.”

He also put it to her that she had not mentioned being woken up by the children to the gardaí in her original statement. She said she had said it at the time but she was upset.

She got a copy of her statement ahead of the trial this year and realised that was not there. When Mr Le Vert put it to her that the children had not woken her up that day she said Natasha’s son had come to tell her about the killing.

“But because he was small I did not stop to listen.”

She said days afterwards the child had punched all the toys in the house.

“It affected the child. He saw what he did but because he is small he could not explain it.”

She added: “He saw Goodwill.”

She said she was sure the accused was in the flat at the time of the killing.

The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Kevin O’Higgins.