O'Reilly mother gives evidence

The mother of murdered Rachel O'Reilly told a jury in the Central Criminal Court today that she was first person to discover her daughter's body.

Rachel O'Reilly's husband, Joe O'Reilly (aged 35) of Lambay View, Baldarragh, Naul, Co Dublin has pleaded not guilty to murdering the 30 year-old mother-of-two at their family home on October 4, 2004.

Mrs Rose Callaly, the victim’s mother, told prosecuting counsel, Mr Dominic McGinn BL, that she went to the scene after being alerted by the accused that her daughter had not turned up to collect their son from crèche.

She said her failure to collect him was "unusual" and that when she could not get through to her, she decided to leave straight away.

The first thing she noticed when she arrived at the house was that the dogs would not follow her in as they usually would.

She then went around the back as normal to enter the house through the patio doors, which were open.

She then realised the curtains, which were always open, were closed on this occasion.

She said the kitchen tap was running "quite strongly" and that folded clothes looked like they had been moved from the table to the floor.

After that, she said she walked through the house, calling Rachel's name.

As she went along, she noticed doors of a china cabinet were open and said it was then that she became uneasy.

When she looked into her daughter's room, she noticed her body lying on the floor.

"As soon as I saw her I knew she was dead and that she had been murdered," she said.

She added: "I knelt down beside her and I remember talking to her and I remember rubbing her arms. They were cold. I knew she was dead."

She said it looked as though the deceased had fallen while trying to reach the door.

She cried in the witness box as she recalled the clothes her bare-footed daughter was wearing at the time.

Asked whether it would have been usual for her not to wear shoes, she said it was very common.

She said she knew at that stage she had to do something but found it impossible to work the phone.

She said she did not even know what numbers she was dialling but that eventually she got through to someone.

She said shortly after that, one of her daughter's friends came to the house and that Mr O'Reilly arrived moments later.

She said that when she told him she was dead, he ran into the house and went to the body.

"Joe got on his knees. He was upset. He scooped things around her head. I thought he shouldn't be touching it, but I didn't say anything. He chucked a load of stuff into the boys room."

"His first words were, Jesus, Rachel, what have you done?," she said.

Asked whether she remembered him touching the body, she said the only contact she could remember was when he put his two fingers on her neck to check if there was a pulse.

After that, she said he got up and put his hands on his head.

She said her daughter's close friend who was also a nurse then arrived and that 15 minutes later came to the scene.

The kitchen tap had been turned off but she said she does not know who did that.

In the weeks following her daughter's death, she said the accused was a "regular visitor" to their house.

On one occasion, he told them they would hear rumours he was having an affair but that it was not true.

She said he also told them there would be second rumour alleging she and her husband had abused the deceased.

She said that on another occasion, when lots of people were in their house, she heard Mr O'Reilly tell someone that the police had examined him to see if he had any scratch marks.

Referring to the 'Late Late Show' appearance they made on RTÉ on October 22, 2004, Mrs Callaly said she went to the studios in a car provided by RTÉ, and that on the way there, Mr O'Reilly was among the passengers.

She said that after the show, the accused left on his own.

Under cross-examination by defence counsel, Mr Patrick Gageby SC, Mrs Callaly agreed the accused "went beserk" when he arrived at the scene and learnt of his wife's death.

She said she could not remember him trying to turn the body. "All I remember was him putting his fingers on her neck," she insisted.

She also insisted she would have spoken to gardaí about the position each of them had taken at the scene before her statement of November 12, 2004.

The trial before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of two women and nine men continues tomorrow.