A phone linked to Richard Satchwell sent text messages about issues purchasing monkeys over the same period when he is alleged to have murdered his wife, his trial has heard.
One message read: “I am in a mess right now because my wife has said she is leaving me over this.”
The jury were also told on Wednesday of text messages sent by the phone to both Mr Satchwell’s family and that of his wife Tina.
The court heard Mr Satchwell told Tina’s cousin that he discovered a “birth cert and marriage cert” were gone.
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“Please try to understand that I love her with all my being ... You know that I cry all the time even now writing this ... I feel I let her down in some way,” another message read.
There was also evidence the phone sent a text message to a contact saved as ‘Dad’ that read: “Hi dad, hope you are well and good, I just want to let you know that Tina walked out on Monday and took all our savings with her.”
The trial has heard that on March 24th, 2017, Mr Satchwell told gardaí that his wife had left their home four days earlier but that he had no concerns over her welfare, feeling she had left due to a deterioration in their relationship.
The accused formally reported Mrs Satchwell missing the following May, but her body was not discovered for over six years, when gardaí in October 2023 found her decomposed remains in a grave that had been dug under the stairs of her home.
Mr Satchwell’s home was searched by a team of 10 gardaí on June 7th, 2017, but the jury has been told this was a non-invasive operation.
Superintendent Annemarie Twomey told Gerardine Small SC, prosecuting, on Wednesday that she was appointed senior investigating officer for the case on August 16th, 2021, at which point Mrs Satchwell had been missing for four years and five months.
Supt Twomey said that once she had reviewed the material in the incident room, she had reasonable grounds to believe that Mrs Satchwell was not a missing person, and had met her death through unlawful means. She said she had reasonable grounds to believe the arrest of Mr Satchwell was necessary for a proper investigation into the murder of Mrs Satchwell.
The witness said that on October 10th, 2023, she told Mr Satchwell she had a warrant and that on this occasion it would be an “intrusive or invasive search” of his home, different from the previous search conducted in 2017.
Under cross-examination by Brendan Grehan SC, defending, Supt Twomey said she had no involvement in the investigation before August 2021.
Mr Grehan put it to the witness that as a matter of law there was nothing to stop gardaí from conducting an invasive search of the house in June 2017. “I can’t answer that question ... what they did or didn’t do; I don’t know what the investigation’s belief was at the time,” she replied.
The trial continues on Thursday before Mr Justice Paul McDermott and a jury of five men and seven women.
Mr Satchwell (58), with an address at Grattan Street, Youghal, Co Cork has pleaded not guilty to murdering his 45-year-old wife Tina Satchwell – née Dingivan – at that address between March 19th and March 20th, 2017, both dates inclusive.
