EAMONN LILLIS told gardaí investigating his wife’s death that scrapes on his face came from her fingernails when he held the injured woman’s hand to his face, his trial heard yesterday.
He also denied to investigating gardaí that his wife was a bully and that he had murdered her.
Detectives were giving evidence on the fourth day of the trial of the TV advertisement producer charged with murdering Celine Cawley (46) at their home on December 15th, 2008, while their daughter was at school.
Eamonn Lillis (52) has pleaded not guilty at the Central Criminal Court to Ms Cawley’s murder at Rowan Hill, Windgate Road, Howth.
She died in Beaumont Hospital of blunt force trauma to the head after Mr Lillis said he found an intruder attacking her on their patio. He has since admitted that there was no intruder.
Det Sgt Fionnuala Olohan said Mr Lillis was definite that the attacker was wearing gloves when she and Det Garda Enda Mulryan interviewed him at Clontarf.
“How can you explain the scratch marks on your forehead?” he was asked. “That was Celine when I put her hand up to my face,” he said.
It was put to him that the first garda on the scene had said there was dried blood on Ms Cawley’s mouth, suggesting she was already dead and unable to scrape him.
“I thought she was still alive,” her husband said. He later said the scrapes weren’t intentional. “She has very sharp nails. She probably caught me on the forehead,” he said.
When it was put to him that his wife’s nails were short, he said that they were still strong and that he used to comment to her about them.
“I was kissing her hand. I thought I could feel her hand clench as I was feeling for a pulse,” he had said earlier, when asked to explain what happened when the intruder fled.
“That’s where it gets gappy,” he said. “I blacked out and he left.”
He was asked if his dogs would not have gone mad if there was a violent intruder. “Molly’s very laid back. Sam, the ridgeback, is very cowardly,” he replied.
He said Harry, the cocker spaniel, was in the hall barking nastily and aggressively but he could not explain why Harry did not run out through the open door.
He was asked to account for the time lapse between 9.30am when a neighbour heard two screams and 10.02am when he made the 999 call. “I blanked out. I don’t know how long for,” he said.
He was asked to explain why the forensic team could not find a single drop of blood along the escape route he said the attacker had used.
“Did the attacker go back inside the house?” he was asked.
“I have a suspicion there were two people in the house. It would explain why Harry was barking,” he said.
When asked why there was no blood on the clothes he said he was wearing at the time, he said he wasn’t at his wife’s injured head and that there was blood on his hands before he washed them to dial 999.
“Your wife was lying dying and you took the time to wash your hands,” commented a garda.
Det Garda Mulryan read him a handwritten note that had been found on his bedside locker.
“She will get that wedding dress. She will marry Keith next June. She will send out invites in January. You will never be with her properly. The only way you’ll be with her is to live here. Think of the positives in the relationship. You will never take her to France. She will never share your bed. You are running out of time!!!”
Mr Lillis confirmed that it was his note. “That’s the basis of a short story I’m writing,” explained Mr Lillis. “I used to be a copy writer. You may have noticed a chapter I’m writing about a dog.”
He said he had written it it four or five weeks earlier.
“Is Jean due to marry Keith next June?” he was asked, a reference to Jean Treacy with whom he admitted having an affair for the 10 weeks leading to his wife’s death. He said she was but he did not know if she was due to send the invites in January.
“That was notes based on a doomed affair,” he explained. “Based on your affair?” he was asked. “Well, yes, on experience,” he replied.
Det Garda Paul Donoghue told Paul Greene SC, prosecuting, that he interviewed Mr Lillis at 1.15am on December 21st, 2008, after the prisoner declined to suspend questioning and rest in a cell.
“Did you murder your wife on Monday?” he was asked. “On the advice of my solicitor, no comment,” he replied. “I will say for the record, no,” he added.
“It is my belief you murdered your wife by beating her around the head with a concrete block,” said Det Garda Donoghue.
“Was your wife a dominant person, slightly on the bullying side?” he asked. “No,” Mr Lillis replied.
“You were the second citizen?” asked the detective. He put it to Mr Lillis that gardaí had learned that he earned €100,000 while she earned €500,000. “No comment,” replied Mr Lillis.
The detective said people had described his wife as strong and dominant, saying that she used to shout at him: “Come here, do that,” and that he was a lap dog.
“You met this 31-year-old girl, who wanted to have sex with you every day in exciting places; in the car, in the Pavilion in Swords, in your house when your wife’s away,” said the detective.
“You’ve been unfaithful to your wife, you’ve shown very little sorrow for your loss and now you tell us this cock-and-bull story about a burglar,” he said. “Burglars don’t smash ladies’ heads in.”
“No comment,” repeated Mr Lillis.
He was read a portion of Ms Treacy’s statement in which she mentioned divorce. “It never came up, the idea of divorce,” he said.
“You wouldn’t be the first man to give a mistress the impression that divorce was a possibility,” said the garda. “‘I’ll leave her, darling, when the kids are grown’.”
Mr Lillis was again asked to explain why no trace evidence could be found of the intruder leaving the scene.
“He seemed to leave the scene by levitating,” remarked the garda.
“For all I know he could have been upstairs stashing the stuff in the attic,” Mr Lillis said, suggesting that if there was a murder, the intruder would not want to be seen going down the road with evidence.
“This is a very interesting burglar,” said the garda. “You’re in the film business. You should be better at making things up than this. The description here wouldn’t hack it on Postman Pat.”
Finally, he was asked if he was glad his wife was off the scene.
“That’s a stupid question,” he replied. “It’s not a stupid question as I believe you murdered Celine,” retorted the garda.
“I never laid a hand on Celine,” insisted Mr Lillis.
The trial continues on Monday before Mr Justice Barry White and a jury of six women and six men.