O'Brien had told 'different stories to gardaí and friend'

A Waterford man accused of murdering his wife told a friend a different account of the night his wife went missing to the one he told gardaí.

35-year-old Meg Walsh’s body was recovered from the River Suir on October 15, 2006, after being missing for two weeks. She had died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Her husband, bus driver Mr O’Brien (aged 41) with an address in Ballinakill Downs, Co Waterford denies murdering her on a date between October 1, 2006 and October 15, 2006, somewhere within the State.

Mr Kevin Barry told Mr Denis Vaughan Buckley SC, prosecuting, that he had known Mr O’Brien for over ten years and worked with him as a bus driver.

He said he knew both Mr O’Brien and Ms Walsh well and would have had both their mobile numbers on his phone.

He said he spoke to Mr O’Brien on Tuesday, October 2, after hearing that his wife was missing.

“There were rumours going round that the gardaí were after questioning him the day before about Meg.” He said he had only heard the news second-hand and had asked Mr O’Brien for his side of the story.

The jury have heard that Mr O’Brien told gardaí that he and Meg were socialising in the Woodlands Hotel, their local bar on Saturday, September 30.

They stayed late drinking then returned home with a mutual friend, Owen Walsh.

Mr Walsh told the jury that Mr O’Brien had ordered him out of the house when he caught him kissing Meg.

Mr Barry told Mr Buckley that Mr O’Brien told him “he saw his friend standing with Meg fully clothed, giving Meg a peck of a kiss.” He described it as “a drunken kiss”.

Mr Barry said Mr O’Brien also told him that Meg had left the house on the Sunday before he came back from a walk at 5pm.

The jury have been shown CCTV footage which the prosecution say shows Mr O’Brien on the banks of the River Suir, not far from where his wife’s body would be washed up at around 5.30pm.

He told gardaí that he had a conversation with Meg when he returned home soon afterwards and heard her leave the house and drive off at around 8.30pm.

Mr Barry said he had also been with Mr O’Brien that following day when they, and another colleague, watched a helicopter searching the Suir.

Mr Barry said he commented that they must have been searching for a body but said Mr O’Brien did not react at all.

The following day Mr O’Brien called in sick.

The jury also heard that gardaí found Ms Walsh’s purse and handbag in the kitchen of the house she shared with Mr O’Brien.

Garda Kieran Heaney told Mr Dominic McGinn BL, prosecuting that the purse contained several credit cards and a Laser card in the name of Margaret Walsh as well as several store cards and some loose change. He said a Bank of Ireland Pass card was found on the floor behind the fridge.

Sergeant Oliver Feelan told Mr McGinn that gardaí also found a note reading “Meg, I do love you” in the grey wheelie bin outside the house.

The note had been torn into three pieces. It was written on white paper with the name Chadwicks printed along the top.

Sgt Feelan told defence counsel Mr Paddy McCarthy SC that the note had not been dated and he did not remember it having Mr O’Brien’s signature written at the bottom of the page.

Garda John Nugent told Mr McGinn that he had found a yellow steering wheel lock pushed down the side of the black bin.

The jury have already heard that the steering lock could have been responsible for the two blows that had cracked Ms Walsh’s skull like an egg.

They have also heard that no forensic evidence of any kind was found in a detailed examination of the lock.

Carpet fitters Mr Stephen Harrington and Mr Keith Harrington told Mr McGinn that they had not seen the steering lock when they came to fit new carpets at the O’Brien house.

However, Keith Harrington agreed with Mr McCarthy that it was normal for people to clear out rooms before they arrived to fit the carpets.

Garda Aiden Slattery told Mr McGinn that he had been responsible for taking photographs of Mr O’Brien and fingerprinting him after his first arrest on October 20, 2006.

He told Mr McCarthy in cross examination that Mr O’Brien had lost a considerable amount of weight since that initial arrest.

He said that when he photographed him, Mr O’Brien weighed 14 or 15 stone and had “good healthy hair.”

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White and the jury of seven men and five women.

It is expected to enter its closing stages by the end of this week.