Woman told neighbours not to call ambulance after fatal stabbing, trial told

A woman who had fatally stabbed her partner during a drunken row told onlookers not to call an ambulance, a barrister has told the Central Criminal Court.

Paula Farrell (47) of Rathmullen Park in Drogheda pleaded not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter for the unlawful killing of Wayne ‘Quilly’ McQuillan (30) at Ms Farrell’s home on New Year’s Day 2014.

Gerard Clarke SC for the prosecution opened the trial on Thursday, saying the deceased had worked as a painter and decorator and had been going out with Paula Farrell for about one year at the time of his death.

Mr McQuillan, who is from Marian Park in Drogheda, would frequently stay at Ms Farrell’s home and they “spent a lot of time drinking alcohol and on New Year’s Eve, before he was killed, they had been drinking quite a lot,” Mr Clarke said.

There was “some sort of argument”, he said, adding: “The only account we will have is from Paula Farrell in the account she gave to the guards.”

Counsel said she described how she took a knife from a block of knives in her kitchen and stabbed Mr McQuillan four times. Mr Clarke said a pathologist would say that three of the wounds were not fatal but one was struck at a 45 degree angle downwards to the left shoulder. It sliced a vein and continued through the left lung, causing “massive bleeding internally and externally”.

Mr Clarke said that a “peculiar feature” of the case is that “for reasons we don’t know because Mr McQuillan is dead” the deceased took off his blood stained shirt and the belt of his trousers. He went outside where a crowd of teenagers was gathered and some of them, counsel said, saw him tripping over his trousers after they fell down.

Some of those teens will give evidence that Mr McQuillan shouted that he had been stabbed but they thought, from the colour of his bloodstained t-shirt, that he was covered in oil or was wearing a red Liverpool jersey.

One of those witnesses, Mr Clarke said, will say that Ms Farrell appeared at the door and said: “Don’t call an ambulance, leave him alone. He’s alright.”

Mr Clarke told the jury that Mr McQuillan was bleeding to death and the hallway and kitchen of Ms Farrell’s home was “covered in loads of blood”.

It was a “strange reaction to say the least”, he said, for her to tell people not to call an ambulance. He said there would also be evidence that she was, at that point, cleaning her hands on a tea towel and that gardaí found the knife in the kitchen sink and saw there had been “obvious attempts to wipe up blood”.

Gardaí arrived and due to a delay in getting an ambulance they drove Mr McQuillan to hospital. He suffered a cardiac arrest on the way. He was resuscitated at the hospital but suffered a second cardiac arrest during a CT scan and died. He was pronounced dead at 4.29am on New Year’s morning.

Ms Farrell was interviewed four times by gardaí and was arrested the following day before being sent forward for trial at the Central Criminal Court, Mr Clarke said.

The trial continues in front of Mr Justice Michael White and a jury of eight men and four women.