The murder trial of Richard Satchwell has heard that his deceased wife, Tina, used to shed “tears” before bed on many occasions.
Richard Satchwell (58)of Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork, has pleaded not guilty to murdering his wife Tina Satchwell (45).
A jury of 5 men and 7 women heard how on the last occasion the married couple had attended a local barboot sale where they sold items, the deceased woman had purchased fewer items than usual while her husband manned the car from which they sold the items.
The evidence read before the court today was taken from a transcription of a four hour Garda interview conducted by Garda Sergeant David Noonan who said that the particular interview technique used was “different to traditional” statement taking.
Sgt Noonan said that the technique used was called a “cognitive interview” in which a member of An Garda Síochána sits with a subject in a comfortable environment and allows them to “lead” the interviews.
During the course of the interview, which was conducted in 2021, the accused said that he would “rub oil” into his wife’s “whole body” every night and that he would separately massage each of her feet for 30 minutes each.
He claimed that his late wife would spend “an hour and a half” in the bath everyday, and that after he would spread two large towels on the bed which she would lie upon while he oiled her body.
When Sgt. Noonan asked what kind of conversations the pair would have in the midst of the oiling, the accused answered that sometimes afterwards she would say words to the effect of “Oh I love you,” or “I fucking hate you”, but on the last night before her disappearance she “put her head on my shoulder” and that there were “no words spoken”.
He said that he believed that her crying spells were due to “depression”, before saying that this could “contradict” another assertion that he thought they may have been caused by her thinking of leaving him.
He said that he had “been accused of never saying no to her,” and described how he would wake up earlier than her and prepare a simple breakfast such as toast and jam.
Sgt Noonan repeatedly urged the accused to move away from making statements about what would “always” or “usually” happen and to focus on the specific events of the time leading up to her disappearance.
Satchwell said that during the course of their relationship he had been left with various injuries on his body by being hit or bitten, claiming that he had excused how these were sustained because he didn’t want people to know “the missus” had caused them.
He said that the murdered woman would become “nasty” and “violent” and that “10 minutes later” would behave as though nothing had happened.
He claims he “never hit her”, that he was brought up to respect women, and that a GP had told him “the only thing you can do is leave her alone”.
Satchwell said he had taken “a box” of sleeping pills in 1995 in efforts to end his life due to these incidents but that he did not work.
He said that the 1990s were “destroyed” when thinking back on that time period.
The accused claimed that the late Mrs. Satchwell had a turbulent relationship with some of her family members and that allegations made by a female cousin that she had been abused by a male relative at the age of 10 had caused distress among the family.
Satchwell said he did not know all the specifics of these allegations as he had not visited Mallow with Tina when she had gone to meet her relatives there. He claimed that people attached to the local swimming pool in Youghal, where he said she would swim everyday, had made statements to the effect that they believed that he and his wife were also tarnished with the allegations.
He said she would receive “abusive” phone calls from relatives who would “take problems out on her”.
“They never came to us, we’d visit them,” he said in the interview.
Despite the rocky relationship with some relatives, he said that Tina’s birth mother, Mary, and her sister Lorraine Collins “would have spoken to her” if she had visited them and that they had been there for him since her disappearance in 2017.
He claimed to have been left with cuts on his forehead, “scralled” arms and legs, as well as black eyes over the course of the alleged abuse.
The trial continues before Mr. Justice Paul McDermott.