The jury in the Westmeath murder trial has been told Colin Pinder’s fate should not rest on a story spun by his co-accused and her daughter in the years after the killing.
Conor Devally, defending, was giving his closing speech yesterday in the month-long trial at the Central Criminal Court. Pinder (47), Liverpool, England, has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Bernard Brian McGrath (43) in 1987.
Pinder told detectives he hit Mr McGrath hard after he had been racially abused by him. Mr McGrath hit his head against the range as he fell, and Pinder thought he had killed him. He claimed Ms McGrath insisted on finishing him off.
Pinder’s former mother-in- law, Vera McGrath (61), has pleaded not guilty to murdering her husband at their home in Lower Coole, Westmeath.