'If I kill wife in Ireland, I'll spend less time in jail,' court hears

A South African man has been found guilty of murdering his Irish-born wife at their home in Co Meath shortly before Christmas, 2004 at the Central Criminal Court in Dublin.

The jury of ten men and two women took three hours to find Anton Mulder (aged 46), with an address at Maelduin, Dunshaughlin, Co Meath but originally from Durban in South Africa, guilty of murdering his wife Colleen Suzanne Mulder with a majority of ten to two.

Mrs Mulder, a native of Bangor in Co Down, was found dead in an upstairs bedroom of the house they were renting on the morning of December 17, 2004. She was wearing pyjamas and had been manually strangled.

During the trial the court heard that Mulder had told a colleague it would be easy to kill his wife in Ireland as he would only get a few years for manslaughter.

Mr Mulder had previously been found guilty of murder after a five day trial in May 2006 but this verdict was later over turned by the Court of Criminal Appeal who ordered a retrial.

They gave the reason of inappropriate interaction with the jury by Mrs Mulder's brother, Mr William Pollock.

Mr Pollock was briefly jailed for contempt of court after an outburst in court during the jury selection procedure at the original trial. He was also involved in a separate incident during which he approached a juror and read out a newspaper article about the trial.

At the start of the current trial, Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins passed an order banning Mr Pollock or his wife from entering the grounds of the Four Courts for the duration of the trial.

During the trial the jury heard that Colleen Mulder had moved to South Africa with her family when she was seven years old. She met her husband in the mid 1980s and, shortly afterwards, they were married.

Their first child was born some months later.

Mulder had been working as a traffic cop but as the economic situation in South Africa worsened he was made redundant and followed his brother-in-law Mr Pollock back to the North to find work.

After several difficult years, during which the Mulders and their two small children moved backwards and forwards between South Africa and the North, Mulder found work with Kentucky Fried Chicken.

He swiftly rose through the ranks and by 2002 he had been promoted to Regional Manager for the Dublin region and the family moved to a rented house in Dunshaughlin in Co. Meath. By this time there were six children.

Colleen Mulder worked part time for Kentucky Fried Children, as did the two eldest children, Clinton and Christopher.

In July 2004, Colleen suffered a miscarriage and the marriage started to deteriorate. She became depressed and the couple started sleeping in separate bedrooms.

The couple's eldest son, Mr Clinton Mulder, told the court that there were frequent rows often about the custody of the younger children. He said he had never seen his father hit his mother but "she was scared of him."

Another son, Mr Christopher Mulder told the court he had never seen his father hit his mother "with my own eyes" but he frequently lashed out and had, in the past "destroyed the whole house."

One of the couple's daughters, who cannot be identified because she is under age, told the court that she often stayed over at a friend's house when her mother was away. "I preferred when my mum was there. I was kind of scared of my dad."

The girl, who gave her evidence via videolink, said her parents were often arguing. "It's coz he was sort of annoying all the time. He used to try and start fights and she would tell him to leave her alone."

In November 2004 Colleen moved out of the house in Dunshaughlin and moved back up to Bangor where she lived with her mother. During the trial her sister, Ann Czerepowicz, told the jury that she had accompanied her sister to visit a solicitor to ask about obtaining custody of the children.

Several witnesses during the trial said that during this period Mulder became uncharacteristically nice. Ms Czerepowicz said that she had never had much to say to her brother-in-law but after Colleen had left he rang her and asked to see her.

He told her that he was worried about Colleen because she was only eating ice cubes. However, Ms Czerepowicz said "I think it was planned out of character. He knew what he was doing."

The jury also heard that Mulder had told a South African friend of his, Mr Andries Loubser "I am going to kill her. In this country it's easy. Five or six years jail and I'm still young when I'm out then."

Mr Justice Kevin O'Higgins thanked the jury for their attention and care to the case before sentencing Mulder to a mandatory life sentence.

As the sentence was read out Colleen Mulders family hugged and laughed. Speaking outside the Four Courts Ms Czerepowicz said "To get the verdict once was a miracle, to get it twice, I don't know quite what to say, we are over the moon. He has got what he deserved and I feel that now my sister can rest in peace, God love her."

Clinton Mulder described his mother as a "very loving, heartfelt, wonderful woman. There's no words that can describe her. She one of a kind." He described his father as a "very violent angry man." He said he felt he had got "justice for my mum and justice for myself".

Ms Czerepowicz said she had been in contact with her mother in Bangor. "She is delighted. She is over the moon."