Driver says he saw man fondle victim in car

A lorry-driver told a murder trial jury yesterday he saw a man's hands fondling a woman's breasts in the car where the body of…

A lorry-driver told a murder trial jury yesterday he saw a man's hands fondling a woman's breasts in the car where the body of Mrs Geraldine Diver was found strangled less than an hour later.

The body was found by a security guard at about 10:40 p.m. that night. The tachograph on the lorry-driver's articulated truck showed he passed the scene at around 9:50 p.m.

Another lorry-driver told the Central Criminal Court trial that when he passed the car, the woman was fully clothed, and she glanced at him and showed no sign of fear or anxiety. If his tachograph was accurate, that was some two to three minutes earlier.

The lorry-drivers were giving evidence on the third day of the trial of Mrs Diver's husband, Mr John Diver, who denies murdering her on the night of December 2nd, 1996, at Robinhood Road, Clondalkin, Dublin.

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Mr Michael Stone said that on December 2nd, 1996, he slowed down to turn the corner at the entrance to Buckley's builders' providers yard on Robinhood Road.

As he rounded the bend, he saw a red car parked so close to the roadside that he felt it was "a bit of a hazard".

His headlights were on as it was dark outside. "There was a lady in the front seat of the car. She didn't seem to be moving at all and her breasts were exposed with somebody's hands touching them," he said.

"I didn't see anybody in the back of the car, but I saw hands from the back of the car touching the breasts, from behind the driver's seat". The woman's two arms were down by her side, and her head was leaning to her right, away from the road.

"They were very large hands. They weren't woman's hands. The arms seemed to come up from around the side of the car chair," he said. "The hands were moving in a fondling fashion. "That was what was surprising. That was what shocked me more, that she didn't try to cover herself up at all."

Mr Stone said the woman's eyes were open but there was no reaction from them.

Mr Stone's former colleague, Mr Alan Stuart, said his headlights also illuminated the inside of the red Renault Clio as he passed Buckley's that night. There was a middle-aged woman in the driver's seat. "Her clothes were not opened in any way. I glanced at her, and she glanced back," he said.

The trial continues before Mr Justice Smith and a jury.