A WOMAN who bludgeoned her husband to death with a hammer, but whose children appealed for her not to be jailed, has been allowed to walk free from court.
Anne Burke (56), a mother of four, was sentenced to five years in prison but the judge suspended the sentence having taken into account a number of factors, including evidence of mental illness at the time and the wishes of her children.
There were emotional scenes at the Central Criminal Court as Burke was given the non-custodial sentence for the manslaughter of her husband, Patrick Burke (55), at their home in Ballybrittas, Co Laois, in August 2007.
Her children, who were in court, broke down and wept silently as Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy said he was satisfied that Burke was suffering from a serious mental condition at the time, partly caused by her domestic circumstances.
Mr Justice McCarthy said there were fears she could attempt suicide and that “this showed the depth of punishment in the mind of the accused herself”.
He said she would have to undergo a regime of treatment and comply with the terms of her psychiatrist and any one in her medical and therapeutic assistance.
Mr Justice McCarthy added that he had given particular consideration to her children’s victim impact statements and the fact that they “were at one” in saying they would not like their mother to suffer a custodial sentence.
“This is of significance,” he said. “Their father was responsible for a litany of abuse.”
In her statement, Linda Burke (22) said she understood why her mother had taken her father’s life.
She said her earliest memory was standing at the top of the stairs in her pyjamas, watching her father hold a shotgun to her mother’s head and threatening to “blow her head off”. She said her mother was living in a prison of her own making every day.
“But I hope it will not be a prison made of bricks as this would break my heart . . . I love her unconditionally.”
Her older sister, Natasha, said her mother had “served a lifetime since the day she was married” and she too hoped she would not be sent to jail.
During the trial, the court had heard that the 32-year Burke marriage was marred by frequent and violent rows, fuelled by excessive drinking.
Burke described her marriage as a “litany of abuse” saying her husband “murdered” her on their wedding night and the physical and mental abuse continued until his death.
She told gardaí that she only started drinking so she could stand up to her husband who would start fights when he was drunk.
She had tried to take her own life a year before she killed her husband and again just six days before his death.
In Garda interviews, she said she had started drinking at 10am on the day in question and just remembered picking up a hammer and hitting her husband over the head with it as he lay asleep in bed.
Mr Burke sustained 23 blows to the head. Afterwards she covered his body with a duvet and tried to cut her wrists.
She pleaded not guilty to his murder and was acquitted by a jury at the Central Criminal Court last December on grounds of diminished responsibility. It found her guilty of manslaughter.
After the sentencing yesterday, Mr Burke’s brother Tom said he wished to make clear that he and his sisters were “not satisfied” with the outcome of the trial.
“He is dead. Not satisfied with that, a further assassination of his character and a tissue of lies was deemed necessary to acquit his killer of murder.”
In his victim impact statement, he said that Mr Burke was not the monster portrayed in the trial and had worked hard as a groundsman to fend for his family.
Mr Justice McCarthy however noted that there had been a 12- year break in the brothers’ relationship; “while I do not disregard what [he] believes completely, I feel [his] perception was wrong as to what happened in the home.”
He said the deceased was responsible for frequent abuse and sometimes shocking incidents in the home.
Burke’s children embraced her as the sentencing concluded.