THE TRIAL of two Lithuanian men charged with murdering a woman in Wexford last year has been told one of them hit her over the head with a golf club while the other stamped on her ribs.
Ricardas Dilys (28) and Ruslanas Mineikas (26) of Goodtide Harbour in Wexford town have pleaded not guilty to murdering mother-of-two Rebecca French on October 9th, 2009, in Ard Na Dara, Clonard.
Mary Ellen Ring SC, prosecuting, opened the case for the Central Criminal Court jury yesterday. She said it was the prosecution’s case that Mr Dilys used a golf club to inflict three fractures to the 30-year-old’s skull and that Mr Mineikas broke a number of her ribs by kicking and stamping.
The jury heard from a number of witnesses, who saw the deceased that morning. Louise Fowler met Ms French driving on a bend near Wexford town about 9am that Friday. “She swerved . . . which caused the car in front of me to stop. She nearly crashed into us,” she said. She told Conor Devally, defending Mr Mineikas, that Ms French looked frightened.
She sobbed when asked if, having known Ms French, the possibility of her being out drinking entered her head immediately.
“Yeah,” she responded.
Tomás Whelan said he saw a number of men drive a blue car from a house in Ard Na Dara at about 3.45pm that day. A number of people gave evidence of seeing four men walking near a smoking car near Ferrycarrig less than half an hour later.
Garda James Lynch said he came across four men walking on the road on his way to the smoking car. Mr Mineikas and Mr Dilys were among them, along with local man Patrick O’Connor, who denied being near the car.
A number of fire fighters testified that an Opel Corsa was well ablaze when they arrived. Patrick Busher said he was extinguishing the fire when he noticed something in the boot which he realised was a body.The trial continues.