Witness tells of seeing man at murder scene

A murder trial witness has told the Central Criminal Court he had to swerve his car to avoid a man at the scene of the murder…

A murder trial witness has told the Central Criminal Court he had to swerve his car to avoid a man at the scene of the murder of Mrs Geraldine Diver on December 2nd, 1996, in Dublin.

Mr Justice Smith and the jury heard Mr Martin Ryan, managing director of a clothing distribution firm based on the Robinhood Industrial Estate, say that when the man walked out of the entrance to Buckley's builders' providers just after 10 p.m. on the night of the killing, he had "nearly knocked him down".

Mrs Diver's body was found in her car at the entrance to Buckley's some 40 minutes later.

Her husband, Mr John Diver (60), denies a murder charge.

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Counsel for the DPP has pointed to an extra-marital affair as a possible motive for the killing of 42-year-old Mrs Diver.

The couple had lived on Kilmanagh Road, Walkinstown, Dublin, with their two children.

On the fourth day of the prosecution evidence the jury also heard that Mrs Diver had seemed her "usual cheerful self" to colleagues at the Coombe Hospital on the evening of her death. A hospital telephonist said she thought Mrs Diver left her workplace between 9.20 and 9.25 p.m.

Mr Thomas Colgan testified to seeing her car parked at the entrance to Buckley's builders' providers between 9.50 and 9.55 p.m. He told Mr Shane Murphy SC, prosecuting: "It appeared to me just as I passed that she glanced in my direction." Under cross-examination, Mr Colgan said: "The impression I got was that she was waiting for someone." The trial continues.