Anna Maria Sacco was on trial for the murder of her husband solely on the basis of an uncorroborated confession, a Central Criminal Court jury was told yesterday. Her counsel said her trial was like "Hamlet without the prince" because the teenage girl who shot her husband and has pleaded guilty to his murder was not called to give evidence.
The prosecution said the murder "was arranged by Anna Maria Sacco and executed by" the girl.
Ms Sacco, who is 22 today, denies the murder of her husband Franco (29) at their home at Coolamber Park, Templeogue, on March 20th, 1997.
Mr Fergal Foley, prosecuting, told the jury that a 15-year-old girl "equipped with Franco Sacco's own gun, took that gun and literally blew his head apart".
"She was urged into doing this by the accused", and it was "part of a plan conceived by them".
When the girl shot Franco, "that was the intention, that was the agreement, that was what was done, in as cold-blooded a fashion as can be conceived". Mr Foley said Ms Sacco "knew what was going on" when she made a statement of admission to gardai on March 24th.
"The only way" for the accused "to wiggle out of that statement" "and out of her request to Mr Peter Gifford" to get someone to kill her husband, was "to cast aspersions on members of the gardai".
But Mr Barry White SC, defending, asked the jury whether they were happy to convict on the basis of "an uncorroborated statement". There was an "unfortunate history" in this country, he said, citing the Kerry Babies Inquiry, and the Grangegorman case where, he said, the Garda "now accepted" that the confession of a man who had been charged with murder "was not worth the paper it was written on".
"We have heard nothing of (the teenage girl)". Only the girl knew why she pulled the trigger on the morning of March 20th. She alone could tell and "she hasn't".
Murder was not normally covered under Section 30 of the Offences Against the State Act but it was this "draconian" law that the gardai used to arrest Ms Sacco, her mother, father and sister Caitriona.
"It is no Sunday afternoon tea party that is going on" during a Section 30 detention, and interviewing gardai "are there to break your resistance, to break your resolve to adhere to the advice of your solicitor".
Insp Gerry O'Carroll had said he told his superior he was going in to interrogate the prisoner and was taking Det Garda John Duignan with him. Was it a case of "time for the heavy boys" or "we're in for the kill"?
The jury should also look at the evidence of Det Sgt Jim Costello on his meeting with the accused on the night of March 23rd "with the most jaundiced of jaundiced eyes".
If Garda Eileen Clark had not recorded in her statement that Sgt Costello and Det Garda Patrick Normile had met his client that night "there would have been no written record of them having been there".
Sgt Costello had offered an "inducement" to Ms Sacco that night that if she told him what he wanted to hear she'd get out. Was the statement that followed the next day "the stitching-up of Anna Maria Sacco"?
Her marriage undoubtedly had its ups and downs, created perhaps by age difference, perhaps by the Latin temperament. "But she says to you she hasn't killed Franco."
Mr Peter Gifford, a man she had "a fling" with, was a most unlikely person to approach to ask to "get a hired gun". Rather, was he perhaps "a bit of a Walter Mitty", seeking to give himself a more important role than he was entitled to?
Returning to Sgt Costello's evidence, Mr White ended: "Are you going to condemn this young lady to a lifetime's imprisonment on this man's word?"
Earlier in court, the jury heard from Ms Sacco's mother, father and the solicitor who met her in custody, Mr Dermot O'Neill.
Mr O'Neill said his note of his first meeting with her on Sunday, March 23rd, indicated "she was anxious if she would be ill-treated". She remained "anxious" throughout her stay in the station, he said, though she seemed "to settle down" at some stage.
On the morning of Monday 24th he had taken a note of her allegation that she was pushed against a wall "and grabbed by the neck" by Det Garda John Duignan the previous night.
An emotional Mr Luigi Sacco told the court his daughter Anna Maria was brighter than her sister Caitriona, who he said was "like a 12-year-old" in maturity and intellect. He agreed Caitriona was staying in sheltered accommodation with a facility of social workers and psychiatrists available to it.
Anna Maria had told the court on Wednesday that Catriona Sacco laughed as she showed Anna Maria a yellow duster containing a piece of Franco's skull.
Luigi Sacco said he had tried several times but gardai "wouldn't let me see Anna Maria" while she was in custody.
Mrs Lorna Sacco said she did not remember telling her daughter to tell the truth prior to her statement. "She was telling the truth all along, so what would I be telling her to tell the truth for?" she said.
Crying, Mrs Sacco recalled seeing a red mark on her daughter's neck shortly after the Garda interview in which the alleged assault occurred. The only thing she could think of was that "they're fairly big men and she's only a little small skinny thing".
She told Mr Foley that Anna Maria had asked her on the afternoon of March 20th if she hated Franco. "I said no, I don't hate Franco, I only hate what he's doing to you."
She could not recall their conversation otherwise and she could not remember her saying: "What would you do if I told you Franco was dead?" but she would have laughed if Anna Maria had said that.
The jury is expected to retire today to consider a verdict after being charged by Mr Justice O'Higgins.