Man accused of hammer murder not a ‘cold-blooded killer’

Roy Webster is not a cold blooded killer but had lost all self control when he beat Anne Shortall to death with a hammer, his defence barrister told the jury at his trial.

Brendan Grehan SC gave his closing speech to the jury in the trial of Mr Webster (40) of Ashbree, Ashford, Co Wicklow.

Mr Webster has pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to the manslaughter of Anne Shortall (47) on Good Friday, April 3rd, 2015 at The Murrough, Co Wicklow. His plea was not accepted by the State.

The jury began their deliberations at 3.30pm on Tuesday afternoon after being charged by Mr Justice Patrick McCarthy and will return on Wednesday to the Central Criminal Court.

The judge told them they must bring back a unanimous verdict as to whether he is guilty of murder or guilty of manslaughter.

Mr Grehan told the jury his client’s actions show that he did not plan the attack and did nothing to cover up what he had done. “This was not some cold-blooded killer. This was something that happened when someone lost control of himself.”

He said the accused man’s actions had a far-ranging impact, taking Ms Shortall from her family and taking Mr Webster from his.

Mr Webster’s own family, including his elderly parents, have sundered their relationship with him. “If ever it could be said that there is a case where there are no winners, only losers, this is it,” he added.

Self-pitying

Mr Grehan said the central theme of the prosecution’s closing statement had been that Mr Webster’s statements to gardaí, when he admitted killing Anne Shortall after she threatened to tell his wife about an affair they had, were self-pitying.

He said this was not borne out by Mr Webster’s confession, when he “gushed out in a torrent of words” and told gardaí he had made a mistake that was “after ruining so many lives”.

Given the enormity of what had happened and what Mr Webster had admitted to, to characterise it as self pity is to not recognise the facts in the case.

Counsel said everyone has a breaking point and although we would all like to think we would not do certain things, if pushed hard enough, we can shock ourselves.

“If you were put to the pin of your collar, who knows what you might do.”

He asked the jury to consider what might happen if everything they held dear, their family and children, were being put at risk. It is a human frailty to do things that we later regret when pushed to breaking point, he said.

Addressing evidence that Mr Webster went back to life as normal while Ms Shortall’s body lay in his van, Mr Grehan said to focus on that is to focus on the wrong place. “Your attention must be on the events leading up to the death of Anne Shortall,” he told them.

But he added that everyone is capable of “erecting a wall” to block out things they do not want to think about. Mr Webster, he suggested, was just hoping beyond hope that Anne Shortall was not really there and the whole episode had been a nightmare.

Drunken night out

Going into the background of the relationship with Ms Shortall, he said Mr Webster had met her on a drunken night out the previous Christmas and betrayed his wife and his marriage vows with her. He said this was nothing unique and that afterwards Mr Webster had no intention of having an affair.

Ms Shortall, who owed thousands in rent arrears and bills, later formed a plan to tell Mr Webster she was pregnant and demand money for an abortion. She tried to get his attention by calling his mobile phone and his home phone in the early hours of the morning and by early April they were exchanging text messages.

Mr Grehan said the accused man was prepared to pay her money if she could prove she was pregnant. When they met on April 3rd and she found out he did not have any money with him she got out of the van to “storm off” and he got out to “reason with her”.

She threatened to go to his wife and he pleaded with her not to ruin his life. His head was spinning and, as he later told gardaí: “I could just see my whole world crashing down.”

Without thinking, he grabbed the first thing he could find and he hit her. “He totally loses it, and hits her again and again,” said Mr Grehan.

Recalling the description Mr Webster gave to gardaí, he said it was like he was looking down on himself doing it.

The court also heard t Mr Webster then tied Ms Shortall’s wrists with duct tape and wrapped tape around her head.

‘Somewhat irrational’

Mr Grehan said this was “curious” and seems “somewhat irrational” but he said the evidence from State Pathologist Professor Marie Cassidy showed that she was more than likely dead before he did that and it probably did not contribute to her death.

He added that Mr Webster did not know why he used the tape.

What Mr Webster did following Ms Shortall’s death showed, according to Mr Grehan, that he had no plan to kill her. He said a person with a plan would have thought of a way to dispose of evidence and the body.

“None of those hallmarks are present to you in this case,” he said.

Mr Webster used his own phone to contact Anne Shortall. He picked her up in Wicklow Town and drove her around in his own van with his name on the front and back in broad daylight.

He drove her to the Murrough, just two minutes from Wicklow Town Centre, an area that Mr Grehan said is not the isolated place painted by the prosecution, but an area frequented by dog walkers. In fact, he was seen there with Anne Shortall by at least one man who later went to gardaí. “Sinister planning does not hold up,” he told the jury.

Afterwards, rather than dump her body in the Wicklow Mountains, he brought it home. When gardaí asked him why, he said it was “instinct”.

Over the course of the weekend he had several opportunities to get rid of the body but instead all he did was bring it into a workshop on the grounds of his home.

Rather than acting normally, as was suggested by the prosecution, Mr Grehan said his client was “frozen”, just “waiting for the inevitable knock on the door”.

Finally, on the Tuesday, four days after Ms Shortall’s death, he admitted to his wife and gardai what he had done. Mr Grehan said: “You have heard of getting something off your chest, and it comes out of him.”

He asked the jury to consider how a man, described by his friends as “happy go lucky” could suddenly “throw it all away” in the way that Mr Webster had. He asked them to find him not guilty of murder, but guilty of manslaughter.

The jury will continue their deliberations on Wednesday.