Murder trial hears Garda recall finding the body of pensioner Anne Butler

A garda told the trial that the defendant also said in the patrol car that he had killed another woman beside John's Bridge

The jury has also heard that murder accused Trevor Rowe (pictured) told gardaí: "I thought it was going to be an easy touch, what have I done?" Photo: Dylan Vaughan

A detective has told a murder trial he saw that the body of a 71-year-old pensioner had lacerations to the neck, an injury to the head and her left ear appeared to be missing when he entered her home.

The jury has also heard that murder accused Trevor Rowe told gardaí: "I thought it was going to be an easy touch, what have I done?" He also told officers when he was sitting in the back of a patrol car that he "just wanted her to be found" and that he had "slit her throat and stabbed her in the head".

Another garda witness told the trial that he located "a piece of an earlobe" on the couch where Ann Butler had been lying and there was a metal crowbar and a Swiss army knife in the vicinity.

Mr Rowe (29), with an address at Abbey Street, Kilkenny has pleaded not guilty to murdering 71-year-old Ms Butler at her home at Maudlin Street, Kilkenny on March 20, 2020.

Scene of Ms Butler's death

Giving evidence on Thursday, Detective Sergeant James O'Brien told Garrett McCormack BL, prosecuting, that he got a phone call from Sergeant Jason Crotty at 7.28pm on March 25 informing him that a body had been discovered at a house on Maudlin Street in suspicious circumstances.

Det. Sgt O'Brien said he entered the house at 7.33pm and that the heating appeared to be on. Immediately, he got a very strong, overpowering and unpleasant smell. The witness said he walked down the hallway and looked into two bedrooms, which appeared to be ransacked and very untidy.

He then went into the main sitting room area and noticed a deceased female on the right side of a two-seater couch. She had obvious injuries to her body and her skin had gone very discoloured, he said.

"There were obvious lacerations to the left side of her neck and an injury to her head where the left ear appeared to be missing," said the detective. The witness remained inside for two minutes and then left the house.

'An easy touch'

Mr Rowe, who was present outside the house at Maudlin Street at the time, was then arrested and conveyed to Kilkenny Garda Station in a patrol car.

Describing the accused's demeanour in the back of the patrol car, Det. Sgt O'Brien said he was very visibly upset, that he was in a very emotive state and was sobbing. "At some stages he was crying and at some stages shouting," he added.

The witness said Mr Rowe made several statements in the vehicle including "I just wanted her to be found" and that he had "slit her throat and stabbed her in the head last Friday". The court heard that the defendant asked himself "what have I done, what have I done?".

"Sometimes he was sobbing and other times was aggressive. At one stage he punched the headrest of my seat quite aggressively then he struck the window of the patrol car," he continued.

Det. Sgt O'Brien said the accused also stated: "I thought it was going to be an easy touch, what have I done?" The defendant also said in the patrol car that he had killed another woman beside John's Bridge.

Under cross-examination, the detective agreed with Kathleen Leader SC, defending, that her client had said "I thought it was an easy touch". The witness also agreed with the barrister that Mr Rowe had gone on to say "it [the touch] went wrong".

Earlier, Sergeant Jason Crotty testified that he noticed blood marks on the walls of the hall when he entered Maudlin Street. He said the temperature inside the house was quite warm, that the heating was on and there was a fairly strong unpleasant odour in the air. 

Sgt Crotty used his torch to see around the living room as it was quite dark. "I saw what appeared to be the body of a deceased female on the couch with no sign of life and what I thought was a wound to the neck area," he said. 

The witness said he contacted the previous witness to inform him of what appeared to be the body of a female in suspicious circumstances and requested his attendance at the scene.

Timber cross

This afternoon, Detective Garda Brian Barry said he went to the house at Maudlin Street on March 26 and found no evidence of a forced entry. Ms Butler, who was wearing a red cardigan and black trousers, was lying on her right side on a two-seater couch. 

There was an injury to the left side of the neck and the left ear lobe was missing. Drops of blood, a metal crowbar, a Swiss army knife and some money were found in front of the deceased. The television was knocked over in the corner of the room and the doors belonging to a timber display cabinet were opened.

The detective said he observed a bottle of Baileys, which was opened, in a blood-stained Dunnes Stores bag and an opened can of Linden Village cider on top of a cabinet in the living room. In the main bedroom of the semi-detached bungalow, there was an opened jewellery box which was empty.

Det. Gda Barry said he returned to the house the next day and located a timber cross under a computer desk in a bedroom. "The timber cross didn't have the crucifixion of Jesus on it, [it was] just the timber cross," he said.

The witness said he also located "a piece of an earlobe" on the two-seater couch where the deceased had been lying. Three partial footmarks from the front of the couch where Ms Butler had been lying were photographed.

The daughter of Ann Butler, Elaine Butler, told prosecution counsel, John O'Kelly SC, that she lived in two different houses on Maudlin Street with her mother from the age of three or four until she was 25. She then moved into her own home and would call to her mother's house a few times a week.

Ms Butler said she last saw her mother on March 18 but was unable to visit her the following week as she was awaiting the results of a Covid test. The witness was shown a photograph of a wooden cross, which Ms Butler said had been hanging over the fireplace in her mother's sitting room for a good while. 

"It had a brass figure of Jesus and on the base of the cross there was a rectangular part that said INRI. When I was in the house in February it wasn't in the sitting room, there was a different picture over the fireplace," she said.

In his opening speech, Mr O'Kelly said there would be forensic evidence on a number of items that connected Mr Rowe to the scene of Ms Butler's death. One of the items was part of a crucifix, he said, which had been in the deceased's house and was later found in the possession of Mr Rowe.

The trial continues on Friday before Ms Justice Karen O'Connor and a jury of seven men and five women.