A jury has been told that Mr Patrick Gillane, whose wife Philomena was murdered in 1994, had a sexual relationship with her sister before and during his marriage. Mr Gillane (35), of Glenbrack, Gort, Co Galway, has pleaded not guilty to soliciting Mr Christopher Bolger and Mr Michael Doyle in Dublin on a date unknown in January 1994 to murder his wife.
Mr Edward Comyn SC, prosecuting, told Dublin Circuit Criminal Court that Ms Philomena Gordon had worked as a cook in a Dublin hospital for some years.
Mr Gillane met her in 1991 and they became boyfriend and girlfriend.
He formed an attachment with her sister Bridie about the time his late wife brought him to meet her family near Ballinasloe, Co Galway.
Mr Comyn told the court's jury of eight women and four men that Mr Gillane married Philomena on April 30th, 1993 at Knock, Co Mayo, after she became pregnant. The baby was born in August.
Even though he had married Philomena, he continued a sexual relationship with Bridie Gordon.
Matters came to a head around December 1993 when Bridie formed another relationship and his wife learned about the affair and confronted him. There was a family crisis and he was under stress.
Outlining the case to Judge Joseph Mathews and the jury, Mr Comyn said it was well-known that Mrs Gillane's body was found in tragic circumstances in May 1994. She had suffered a violent death.
But this was not a murder trial and the jury would have to put that out of its mind, Mr Comyn said.
The prosecution alleged that Mr Gillane had solicited two men in Dublin on the last Sunday of January 1994 to murder his wife.
These men did not agree to his proposition. For the charge of soliciting someone to carry out a murder to be proven, there did not even have to be any murder carried out.
Mr Comyn said all the jury had to decide was if he had asked the two men to do it.
Neither of these men belonged to the higher strata of society and were down on their luck.
The jury might not find them as sophisticated as others but might be satisfied after hearing them that their evidence was correct.
Their evidence differed in some detail but the jury would be satisfied with their honest recollection of events the State alleged happened.
Mr Comyn said that Mr Doyle saw television news coverage of Mrs Gillane's funeral in May 1994 and told Mr Bolger he recognised Mr Gillane as the person who asked them the previous January to kill his wife.
Mr Bolger bought a newspaper and also recognised Mr Gillane as the man who had spoken to them near the Royal Hospital Kilmainham and in his recollection asked them to murder a woman who worked in a hospital.
Mr Comyn said Mr Bolger then contacted a garda who was involved in social work and told him about the matter.
Both Mr Doyle and Mr Bolger made statements to gardai.
They said they were walking between Heuston Station and Thomas Street, near the Royal Hospital, on the last Sunday of January 1994 when a car was driven towards them from the station's direction around 4 p.m to 5 p.m.
The driver wound down the window and asked them about doing a job for him. There was some talk about cigarettes and this man bought a packet in a pub. The man then put a proposition to the men that they should murder a woman.
Mr Comyn said one of the men claimed he asked them to murder his wife and the other witness said the proposition was to murder a woman who worked in a hospital. The jury would have to decide how much of their evidence it would accept and where there was a contradiction if that was important.
Mr Comyn said there were two sets of evidence in this case.
There were the immediate facts of the evidence of the two men and there were the background facts of why the State alleged he pursued this particular course.
The jury would hear evidence from Mr Bolger, Mr Doyle, Ms Gordon and Garda witnesses. It would see footage of television news coverage of the funeral.
The trial continues today.