The trial of a Donegal man accused of murdering his estranged wife has heard that he allegedly said he would "do time for her".
Gary McCrea (40) Ballybulgin, Laghy, Co Donegal, denies murdering Dolores McCrea (39), Ballintra, Co Donegal, between January 20th and January 22nd, 2004.
It is alleged that he murdered the mother of his four children and then burned her body at the rear of the old family home.
Alister McClay told the jury he had known the McCreas for many years and had been aware they had broken up. After the break-up, Mr McClay said Mr McCrea talked "a lot" about his wife.
At Christmas 2003, he bumped into Mr McCrea in Carolan's pub in Laghy. "He was having a conversation about Dolores and the children. He was very bitter," Mr McClay said. "He never used her name, it was 'bitch' or 'whore'."
He believed Mr McCrea was "at his wit's end" with the break-up and the custody of his children. "He made a comment that he was going to sort it out," Mr McClay told the jury. "He more or less said he was going to take matters into his own hands."
After he told the accused to "cop himself on", Mr McCrea allegedly said: "I'll do time for her."
Eamon Doherty, a haulage contractor from Laghy, told the jury that on January 20th, 2004, Mr McCrea called to his house.
Mr McCrea said his wife had called earlier that evening to sell her car to him for €1,000. He told Mr Doherty that she had been "a bit on edge" and that a car had pulled up which she got into and drove away in the Bridgetown direction.
Mr McCrea said his wife was "going away for a few days" and for him to mind the girls.
Four days later, Mr McCrea rang and asked him to call down to him for a chat, but Mr Doherty told the court that he declined to do so. He said Mr McCrea told him that bones, which had been discovered in a smouldering fire at his house, were "probably lying there for years and that they were only old bones".
Closing speeches begin today.