Trial begins of nurse who admits killing her mother

A 36-year-old nurse has gone on trial, charged with murdering her mother on Christmas Eve four years ago by hitting her over the head with a bottle.

Greta Dudko has admitted killing 55-year-old Anna Butautiene at Station Court Hall, Clonsilla, Dublin, on December 24th, 2010.

However, she has denied her murder.

The woman’s plea of not guilty to murder but guilty to manslaughter was not accepted by the DPP, and her trial began at the Central Criminal Court yesterday.

Her husband testified of his shock of learning on Christmas Day what his wife had done the night before.

Vitalij Dudko said she told him as they were having a cigarette in their family home at Maple Green, Clonsilla.

“She told me that she did something terrible. She said she had a fight with her mother and had hit her against the wall and that, as a result, she had died,” he said.

Pauline Walley SC, prosecuting, told the jury the deceased had travelled to Ireland from Lithuania to help Ms Dudko and her husband to care for their child.

She said the accused had been well-regarded in her job in a nursing home, but she was suspended a few weeks before the killing on suspicion of having consumed alcohol.