MR CATHAL RYAN told the High Court yesterday that when Ms Michelle Rocca told him she was pregnant she became irate because there were no wedding plans.
Mr Ryan, on his first day in the witness box, described his relationship with Ms Rocca from when he first met her at his father Dr Tony Ryan's house in 1988.
Mr Ryan said he was now living in Co Kildare. He had worked as a pilot in Sri Lanka and Nigeria. Ryanair started in 1986. He was one of the founders and was still deputy chairman. As a pilot he had one vigorous medical check a year.
Mr Ryan said he married Tess, a Sri Lankan citizen, in May 1982. They had two children. Killian was born in 1982 and Danielle in 1983. Divorce proceedings concluded in February 1985. Around the time Ms Rocca and himself were involved, the High Court awarded him custody.
Asked by Mr Garrett Cooney SC, for Mr Ryan, if he and Ms Rocca had ever been engaged, Mr Ryan said they had been engaged, not formally, but he regarded it as an engagement. He met her in 1988 at a party at his father's home and romance blossomed.
In the autumn of 1989, during a holiday to the Lake District, he proposed marriage and she accepted. He said he did not buy an engagement ring as it was a spontaneous action. There were no wedding plans as it was primarily aspirational. Ms Rocca was still married and she considered also he had to get his custody arrangements sorted out.
During 1989 it was agreed she would move to Bedfordshire where he was living. In July they went to Madeira for four days or so. It was quite volatile. "I've a little difficulty going into too many things personally," Mr Ryan went on. Ms Rocca was not particularly happy with what lay ahead of her. It was not a great holiday.
He bought her a ring in Madeira, it was a temporary ring, an aquamarine. "She was not too impressed." Mr Cooney asked if it was his intention to buy another. "Yes, but I don't think I ever got the line `temporary' out."
Ms Rocca had been on the Eurovision [song contest] in 1988 and she wanted to get involved with a number of agents in London in a career in broadcasting. Mr Ryan said she was too intense about it. He considered it was necessary to settle things down for six months or so and try to form a home for the children.
They were still engaged but there were no wedding plans. In the autumn of 1989 Ms Rocca was involved in the RTE series Play the Game and she went back to Dublin periodically as work was not coming her way from London.
An incident occurred. He was upstairs in bed, particularly exhausted. She wanted to rehearse charades, so he got up and they had some fun and were drinking wine. She eventually got fed up and she was getting anxious. He then returned to bed.
She sat on the bed and said that he was not overly concerned with her career and did not give a damn. He returned to sleep and she was irate. She told him to wake up and she slapped him. He told her to go back to her own room, they had separate rooms. She said she could not take any more and she scratched him on the face. He had to wear plasters on his face.
Asked if Ms Rocca's version was true, he said it was not. "I want to make it clear, I have never struck a woman before that time in Clane," said Mr Ryan.
The relationship continued and they went on a Roman holiday, just for the weekend. It did not go terribly well. At that stage, he was hoping it would be some inducement for them "to pull up their socks" in the relationship.
There was some ridiculous argument at the airport going out about absolute trivia. By the time she got to Rome, she was so irate she stormed off through the airport terminal and he eventually found her at the taxi rank The latter part of the holiday was saved by a pleasant meal and the ambience of Rome, Mr Ryan said.
In May/June 1990, Ms Rocca was returning to Dublin on a frequent basis. She certainly displayed to him that the engagement was off. This had been coming for quite a while.
She left Bedfordshire in July and went to Castleknock, Co Dublin. Between then and August, she went over to England and stayed in B&Bs and once with him. She just arrived without phoning. He thought she saw it as an opportunity to ignite the flames of the relationship. But it was "pretty much finished".
Mr Ryan said he received a call from Ms Rocca in August, asking him to meet her as she had important news.
He went to Dublin and met herb in Howth. "She told me she was pregnant." Asked how he felt he said: "It was initially surprise because we had not been together, so to speak, for quite a while."
His reaction was tainted by her statement, before he had said a word, that they would have to get married now. He told her that he did not think so. He thought it was rushing things. Ms Rocca was very irate because there were 0 wedding plans.
However, after that he decided it might be worth one more effort.
They rented a house in Foxrock.
During August to mid September, Ms Rocca was most irate at not getting married. She considered it an affront and the relationship deteriorated. He had to go to stay at the Airport Hotel to conclude his captaincy exams. There were rows but no violence.
Then in mid-September they had spent the weekend in Tipperary and on the Monday morning returned with the children to Dublin.
Back at the house, they were trying to get the children ready for school. He told Killian to brush his teeth. He went to the bathroom and Ms Rocca was there. She asked him to do something and Killian replied that Daddy had told him to clean his teeth.
Mr Ryan said: "Michelle lost it - grabbed him by the neck, pushed him out the door and scraped the back of his neck."
Later that day, he decided that was the end of the relationship. It was not doing the children any good and could not have been good for the unborn child. He made the decision and took his children with him.
Their daughter Claudia was born in April 1991. There was not a lot of communication before the birth as Ms Rocca was not in very responsive mood. He decided the relationship was irreconcilable.
Then he got a call at 3 a.m. and went to Mount Carmel Hospital. It was wonderful seeing the baby being born.
Mr Cooney asked him if he acknowledged Claudia as his daughter and that he was the father. Mr Ryan said: "I have never had any reason to think otherwise."
After that, he would see Claudia often. There was no rekindling of the relationship but there was a large amount of compassion in terms of how the relationship had gone wrong. They had been in love for quite a while and one could only expect compassion. He denied that after that he and Ms Rocca had been behaving like lovers.