The jury in the trial of Richard Satchwell who is accused of murdering his wife before burying her beneath their Cork home where her remains lay undiscovered for six years, have been told by the presiding judge that they can consider the issue of self-defence.
Mr Justice Paul McDermott began charging the jury on Monday in the Central Criminal Court trial of Mr Satchwell (58), who has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell - nee Dingivan - at their home address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork between March 19th and March 20th, 2017, both dates inclusive.
Commencing his charge, Mr Justice McDermott asked the jurors to approach the case with an open and independent mind and “without emotion and prejudice”.
“There are aspects of this case which are unseemly and perhaps shocking,” he added.
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The judge said that if the jurors found things to have aroused their indignation, feelings and emotions, they had to leave these outside the door of their jury room. He asked them to approach the case in a very careful and clinical way.
He said they must return a true verdict in accordance with the evidence and not with emotion, sympathy or empathy.
Mr Justice McDermott said the starting position was that Mr Satchwell is presumed to be innocent of the offence of murder and it was up to the prosecution to establish that he was guilty of the offence.
“You are confined to what you hear in the courtroom, nothing else is relevant to you”.
Mr Justice McDermott said for the jury to determine whether Mr Satchwell intended to kill or cause serious injury to Tina, they could determine his state of mind by looking at the surrounding circumstances including how the killing was carried out, the amount of violence or force used, what the accused said about what happened, what he told people in the immediate aftermath of the killing and what he did in the immediate and subsequent years following the killing.
He said if the jury were left with a doubt that Mr Satchwell intended to cause Tina’s death or serious injury then they were entitled to acquit him of murder and deliver a verdict of manslaughter.
Mr Justice McDermott said the jury had been invited to consider the issue of self defence and the onus lay on the prosecution to prove that Mr Satchwell was not acting in self defence.
He said a scenario had been presented to the jury that the accused was attacked by Ms Satchwell and had sought to defend himself in the manner described in his interviews with gardaí.
He said if the jury decided the force used by Mr Satchwell was reasonable in the circumstances as he honestly believed them to be, then they must acquit him of murder and manslaughter and return a verdict of not guilty.
He said if Mr Satchwell honestly believed he used no more force than was reasonably necessary but the degree of force used was not what a reasonable person would have used, then he was not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
He said if self-defence didn’t apply, then they could find the accused guilty of murder provided they were satisfied he intended to kill or cause serious injury.
Mr Justice McDermott will continue his charge to the 12 jurors tomorrow morning.
