EAMONN LILLIS will be further cross-examined by the prosecution on Monday after he gave a detailed statement to the Central Criminal Court yesterday about the row between himself and his wife on the morning she sustained fatal injures.
The 52-year-old TV advertising producer was giving evidence on the ninth day of his trial for the murder of Celine Cawley at their home on December 15th, 2008.
He has pleaded not guilty to murdering her at Rowan Hill, Windgate Road, Howth while their daughter was at school. The 46-year-old died of blunt force trauma to the head after receiving three blows.
Mr Lillis had said he found an intruder attacking her on their patio but last week admitted that there was no intruder.
The defendant told Brendan Grehan, defending, that everything was normal in his house that morning until a sudden row over forgetfulness and chores turned nasty.
He said his wife was wearing rubber gloves at the kitchen sink when he returned from walking their three dogs. She asked him to make tea but he said he wanted to clear dog “poo” from the patio first and he walked outside.
“Celine called after me had I given the mealworms to the robins. I said I’d forgotten. She said it was bloody typical of me to keep forgetting things,” he said. “We argued about it back and forth. I shouted some abuse.” He said that he had turned away when his wife followed him out, and he saw her getting up off the ground out of the corner of his eye. She was picking up a brick and he presumed she’d fallen on it.
“I asked if she was okay, what had happened,” he said. “What do you care?” she replied according to her husband.
“She thrust the brick at me,” he said. “I said something rude to her and walked away. She came flying back out and said that was typical of me: ‘You always walk away.’” He said things then turned nasty and they began screaming at each other. “I went up to her, shoved the brick at her and said why don’t you shove this where the sun don’t shine,” he said.
“I jabbed her on the shoulder with my fingers,” he said. “She took a swipe at me. I don’t think she meant to hit me but she caught me on the side of my face.”
“I got extremely angry and pushed her back towards the sliding doors,” he added.
He said he tried to grab the brick from her but his glove fell off and his fingernail got torn off.
“I was extremely angry. I pushed her again, quite hard, against the corner of the living room window,” he recalled. “She let an almighty scream.” He said this might have been because she had banged her head but he did not see this.
“She pushed around me. I grabbed her by the shoulder. I was trying to get the brick off her. She caught me with the brick again,” he said. “I grabbed her right wrist and pushed her hand over her right shoulder. The brick was still in her hand.”
“We did a half turn and ended up on the decking. I lost my balance so she lost her balance because I was pushing her,” he said, explaining that they landed close to the border between the decking at the patio.
“She was lying on the ground, on the flat of her back. I was on my knees, half across her,” he said, explaining that his other glove had now come off and was underneath her.
“I went to get up. She grabbed my hand and bit my finger. She wouldn’t let go,” he testified. He said she was twisting her head from side to side while biting his right little finger.
“I hit her on her forehead to stop her moving,” he said “I screamed at her. It was extremely painful.” He said the row ended when she let go of his finger. He said he then picked up the brick that was near her head and threw it a foot or two away.
“I think it was the sheer shock at what had happened that stopped the row. I was stunned. I didn’t know what to think,” he said.
“At this stage I noticed her head was bleeding and there was blood. I got on to my knees. Celine seemed quiet and dazed. She went to sit up,” he said.
“I went to the side of her head. I got her to rest her head on my lap for a minute.” He was then asked to explain the three wounds to her head and the scratch on her face.
“I assume the first time she fell she might have hit her head on the brick because she picked up a brick and was holding her head,” he said.
“When she banged her head off the window edge because she let an almighty scream,” he said, explaining the second.
“When we fell down off the deck on to the patio,” he suggested as the cause of the third laceration.