Tina Satchwell's niece weeps as she recalls being offered chest freezer that had allegedly held her aunt's remains

Sarah Howard said that she 'never' witnessed Mrs Satchwell being violent or aggressive

Tina Satchwell (pictured) 'was kindhearted, loving, a family person', her niece Sarah Howard told the court on Wednesday. File picture: Theresa Dingivan

Tina Satchwell’s niece became tearful when she said that murder-accused Richard Satchwell had offered her a chest freezer – days after her slain aunt’s body is believed to have been stored in one.

Sarah Howard, Mrs Satchwell’s niece, told the Central Criminal Court that Mr Satchwell sent her a “very strange” text on March 30, 2017, saying: “Sarah, do you want our big chest freezer?” This would have been 10 days after the State alleges Mrs Satchwell was murdered in her home.

Richard Satchwell, aged 58, told gardaí that he had stored his wife’s body in a chest freezer at their home for a few days after her death before burying her under the stairs in their sitting room. He has pleaded not guilty to the murder of his wife, Tina Satchwell, aged 45, nee Dingivan, at their home on 3 Grattan St, Youghal, between March 19 and March 20, both dates inclusive.

Crying, Ms Howard told the court that she did not respond to the text offering her the freezer for free. “I just thought it was unusual. He wouldn’t be the type to just give stuff,” Ms Howard said. 

She said:

I thought it was very strange. 

Ms Howard told the court how Mr Satchwell had charged her children 50c each for small items they liked at a stall he had at a car boot sale.

“The kids picked up a nail varnish and a CD, he charged them 50c each. So when he offered that free [the chest freezer] that was very unusual,” Ms Howard said.

Ms Howard heard that her aunt, who she was very close to and described as “kind-hearted” and “a genuinely lovely person”, was missing on March 26, 2017. “I rang Tina’s phone straight away, when she didn’t answer, I rang Richard’s phone.” 

Ms Howard asked him where Mrs Satchwell was and why her dogs were not with her. It was “very unusual” for Mrs Satchwell to be without her dogs, especially her little dog Ruby. Her “dogs were like her children”, the court heard.

Violence

“He just said they had an argument, and she had left him,” she said, recounting their conversation. Mrs Satchwell had thrown a cup at him, he told her. This was the first time Ms Howard ever heard any mention of her aunt being violent, she said.

Mr Satchwell also told her that Mrs Satchwell left with a sum of money. He told her she sent him on an errand to Dungarvan but when he returned, she was missing. Suitcases were also missing, he said. 

They had been at a car boot sale on the Sunday, where Mr Satchwell said she commented that she "had wasted 28 years with him". “I never heard that before,” Ms Howard said.

Mr Grehan asked Ms Howard about Mr Satchwell telling her how Mrs Satchwell said that she “hated him” and had been violent to him, that she threw cups at him and he had scars on his head. “Just on that occasion on the phone,” she said.

Ms Howard said that she “never” witnessed Mrs Satchwell being violent or aggressive. And the first mention Ms Howard ever heard of Mrs Satchwell allegedly being violent was on March 26, 2017.

In August 2017, five months after Mrs Satchwell went missing, Mr Satchwell sent a birthday card to Ms Howard. He addressed it to his “favourite niece”, defence barrister Brendan Grehan SC said. It was signed ‘Tina and Richard’ and was hand delivered and sealed with brown duct tape.

In a text in June 2017, he wrote to Ms Howard: “I love her [Tina] with all my being. She is my light, my everything.” He said that it was “hard to get through the days without her”. “I feel I let her down in some way,” he wrote.

In multiple texts he urged Ms Howard to answer his calls. In one text, he told her he was “very, very worried” because gardaí had asked him for a DNA sample and for some of Mrs Satchwell’s clothes.

He told her that the coastguard had found some clothes. “I don’t want to do it on my own,” he wrote. “They want me to take someone with me, it’s only you that can help,” he wrote.

He also offered her tickets to a Purple Rain concert in Cork Opera House which he said he had won. 

'Kindhearted'

Ms Howard and Mrs Satchwell were “very close”. “Tina was kindhearted, loving, a family person,” Ms Howard said. She loved animals, she was bubbly and sociable, “just a genuinely lovely person.” 

“We would have spent a lot of time together, swimming, walking the dogs, just calling to the house for a chat.” She agreed that Mrs Satchwell had been like a “favourite aunt”, after that was put to her by Mr Grehan.

Mrs Satchwell used to take her into town, she brought her to get her ears pierced when she was about five-years-old. They spent a lot of time together when they both lived in Fermoy.

After Ms Howard moved outside Fermoy, they stayed in contact. Mrs Satchwell did not drive, so when she visited Ms Howard after she moved outside Fermoy, Mr Satchwell would drive her.

She would rarely use her mobile phone, which relied on credit, and would often just call into Ms Howard’s home instead.

The last time she saw Mrs Satchwell was just before Christmas in 2016. “Tina was in great form, very happy” on this occasion and had her dogs with her.

“She didn’t go anywhere without the dogs.” Mrs Satchwell was a sociable person who used to swim and walk her dogs on the beach.

She’d shop in charity shops, ‘always looking for a bargain,’ the court heard. Ms Howard “used to spend a lot of time” with the Satchwells as a child.

Richard Satchwell (pictured) told gardaí that he had stored his wife’s body in a chest freezer at their home for a few days after her death before burying her under the stairs in their sitting room. File picture: Eddie O'Hare

Her loss had affected her “very deeply,” she told the court. As Mrs Satchwell did not have her driving licence, her husband would “driver her everywhere”, the court heard.

“It is fair to say he [Richard Satchwell] appeared to be devoted to her?” Mr Grehan asked. “You described him before as ‘besotted’.” Ms Howard said: “I suppose, he was always with her.” 

Mr Grehan reminded Ms Howard of a previous statement she gave in which she said that she felt Mr Satchwell was “so obsessed and besotted with Tina he couldn’t do her harm." But Ms Howard said that was only “at the beginning”.

She had never visited Mrs Satchwell’s home in Youghal, because she was “very house proud” and wanted the renovations done first, Ms Howard said. Mrs Satchwell had only moved to Youghal about 10 months before she disappeared.

She remembered Mrs Satchwell working in a clothes shop in Cork City “for a short period of time”. She was not aware of her working in the 10 years before her death.

But she was aware of her involvement in car boot sales. “Tina was quite a fan of fashion, she liked her clothes, her hair, her nails everything to be perfect,” Mr Grehan said.

“You described before how she wouldn’t go to the shop to get milk without making sure she looked good.” Ms Howard agreed with this.

The prosecution’s case has now ended. The defence will begin their case on Thursday.

Mr Satchwell has said that his wife attacked him with a chisel on March 20, 2017, and he held the belt of her dressing gown to her neck in a bid to defend himself. But his wife then suddenly collapsed dead in his arms, he said.

He said he was heartbroken and lost. He said he lay holding her body all night before putting her body into a freezer and later burying her under the stairs in the sitting room and concreting over her shallow grave.

Her husband reported her missing on March 24, 2017. Her skeletal remains were found wrapped in plastic and buried beneath a concrete floor under the stairwell in their terraced home in Youghal on October, 11, 2023.

The trial, in front of Justice Paul McDermott, continues.