Richard Satchwell's picture of Tina's disappearance 'very different' to garda evidence, court told
In an October 2023 interview with gardaí Richard Satchwell (pictured) said he felt 'miserable' when his wife Tina would tell him 'I’ll fucking leave you, I fucking hate you' as her attitude changed after her brother’s death by suicide. File picture
Richard Satchwell painted a picture “for years” about the disappearance of his wife Tina and their relationships that was “very different” to the evidence gathered by gardaí, a court has heard.
In a garda interview on the day before Tina Satchwell’s remains were discovered, Detective Sergeant David Noonan told Mr Satchwell that his claim that his wife had taken €26,000 on the day he says she left him was not the picture being painted by the evidence of experts who analysed their financial situation.
“I will say you are the person sitting there for murder,” Det. Sgt Noonan said. “You’re the person who’s painted this picture here. This is important. This is the reason you’re sitting here.”
The court also heard on Friday that Mr Satchwell was shown photos of a cubby hole under the stairs in his home that had just been taken from the scene of the garda search and was asked what he kept in there, to which he replied “bits and pieces”.
In an interview the previous evening, the murder accused had told gardaí he felt “miserable” when his wife Tina would tell him “I’ll fucking leave you, I fucking hate you” as her attitude changed after her brother’s death by suicide.
Mr Satchwell, aged 58, with an address at Grattan St in Youghal, has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Tina Satchwell (aged 45), nee Dingivan, at their home between March 19 and March 20, 2017.
On Friday, the jury continued to view and hear transcripts from garda interviews with Mr Satchwell conducted on October 10/11, 2023, after he was arrested on suspicion of murder.
Most of this first lengthy interview was shown to the court on Thursday, where Mr Satchwell said that he returned home from shopping on March 20, 2017, to find that Tina had gone and she’d taken €26,000 from a money box they had kept in the attic.
The court has heard evidence from gardaí who have said analysis of the Satchwell’s financial situation showed that they did not have the capacity to save this much money.
Furthermore, he told gardaí in this interview that Tina would occasionally be “violent” with him, including throwing things at him and hitting him. He expanded on this further in the rest of the interview which was played to the court on Friday morning.
He said:
Mr Satchwell said they never “took sexually” after her brother died and this made him “feel useless”, but he “never pestered her for sex”.
He also said that Ms Satchwell told him “from day one, if you want kids I’m the wrong person for you”. He said he would have liked to have had children, a girl and a boy.
In the subsequent interview the following morning on October 11, 2023, it was put to Mr Satchwell that the picture he had painted of aspects of the case didn’t tally with evidence gardaí had gathered.
“On this wall you have painted a picture of yourself and Tina and your relationships and friendships,” Det. Sgt Noonan said. “You’ve told not just us this. You told media this.”
The garda said that evidence from three different people about their relationship with Tina or things Mr Satchwell said they had said doesn’t marry with their evidence, such as a woman named Angela being Tina’s “best friend” but who said wasn’t the case.
Mr Satchwell said he “would say it’s one person thinking one thing and another thinking another”.
On October 11, 2023, Mr Satchwell was released by gardaí and given accommodation for the night and a mobile phone as gardaí were still searching their home. The remains of Ms Satchwell were discovered during this search on October 12, 2023.
The trial continues before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.
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