Woman in hitman case denies she was 'Lying Eyes'

AT 2.40PM, Sharon Collins, the Clare woman accused of using the Lying Eyes alias to hire a hitman over the internet to kill her partner, PJ Howard, and his sons, rose from the bench, picked up her bottle of Ballygowan and walked confidently to the witness stand.

Wearing a black trouser suit and crucifix pendant, the 45-year-old adjusted her microphone on request, and, with an inquiring smile at the jury, asked: "Can you hear me now?"

For nearly two hours, she and prosecuting counsel Una Ní Raifeartaigh matched wits, while the barrister insisted Ms Collins and Lying Eyes were one and the same. "I'm not," said Ms Collins. "I know it's your job to try and bring in a guilty verdict . . . I'm not Lying Eyes."

Ms Ní Raifeartaigh mentioned the origins of "Lying Eyes", suggesting that she and Ms Collins were of a similar age. It was a song by the Eagles - surely she remembered it?

"A friend of mine pointed it out to me recently . . . she sent me the first verse of it," replied Ms Collins, adding with a smile that Justin Timberlake was more her thing.

"Did you know it was about a beautiful young woman moving in with a rich old man and cheating on him?" asked the barrister of the accused, who during cross-examination mentioned visits to Lough Derg and constant caring calls and visit to her ageing mother. The barrister noted Ms Collins' propensity for addressing detectives by their first names and uncovered her preference for thrillers such as the Da Vinci Code.

Counsel suggested PJ Howard's continuing support for his partner was explained by the fact that his pride simply would not allow him to accept that "a very attractive, younger woman" with whom he had lived for eight years had set out to have him killed. Wouldn't that be "frighteningly humiliating" for him, she asked.

"I think if I'd heard someone was planning to kill my two sons, I'd get over the humiliation, wouldn't you? . . . I wouldn't let pride get in my way," replied Ms Collins.

"But PJ Howard was also a man with a secret?" probed Ms Ní Raifeartaigh, referring to an anonymous e-mail sent to the Gerry Ryan radio show by Ms Collins. "He wanted you to go up to strangers and pick them up for sex?"

"That was discussed . . . I'm not sure how serious he was about that," replied Ms Collins, looking increasingly uncomfortable.

Counsel explained that the questions were about giving motive, "that he was asking you to do things that were disgusting you".

" And that was a motive to kill three people?" exclaimed Ms Collins.

Did he frequent transvestites? "Yes." Did he ask her to work as a prostitute? "It was mentioned . . . I most certainly didn't like it. After that, it was no longer an issue."

The letter said life was "unbearable"?

"I think I may have exaggerated," she replied. "I think sometimes a person might actually hate or dislike a quality or an action but still love the person . . ." It was "the package", said Ms Ní Raifeartaigh, adding: "Well, I suggest the bit of the package you liked was his money."

Contents of letter 'no motive to kill', hitman trial hears: page 4