Murder accused Richard Satchwell is “far from a criminal mastermind”, a Central Criminal Court jury has heard, but is instead someone who “left a trail of breadcrumbs that would rival any nursery tale”.
In his closing address to the trial on Friday, defence counsel Brendan Grehan said the prosecution had not proven that Mr Satchwell murdered his wife Tina (45) at their Co Cork home eight years ago.
The accused (58) denies murdering Ms Satchwell in the house on Grattan Street, Youghal, between March 19th and 20th, 2017. Her skeletal remains were found during a forensic search of the house in October 2023.
After that discovery, Mr Satchwell told gardaí his wife came at him with a chisel on March 20th, 2017, and died while he was using her dressing gown belt to fend her off. He said he stored her in a freezer for two days before burying her in a grave he dug under the sittingroom.
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Mr Grehan said the prosecution wanted the jury to focus on the aftermath of Ms Satchwell’s death, the cover-up by her husband, and the many lies he had told, because it could not make a case that he intended to kill her.
The case might have been very different if gardaí had acted on several “red flags” after Ms Satchwell’s disappearance, he said. He said gardaí never needed a forensic archaeologist to tell them what to do when someone, especially a wife, goes missing, which was to look first at the husband.
He said a search of the Satchwell home in June 2017 failed to find Ms Satchwell’s body. While accepting the accused was the biggest contributor to the lengthy delay, he said there was “plenty of blame” to go around.
Mr Grehan said the jury had not heard any expert evidence that Mr Satchwell’s account of how his wife died was not possible.
While his client had replied “guilty or not guilty, guilty” after being charged with murder, this was without legal advice and without having murder or manslaughter explained to him.
Counsel showed the jury a photograph of a handcuffed Mr Satchwell being taken before a district court, with many media outside, saying it reminded him of the Caravaggio painting The Taking of Christ except that, in this case, it was “The Taking of Richard Satchwell”.
He said the three possible verdicts open to the jury are not guilty of murder; guilty of murder; and not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter.
Mr Satchwell was “certainly guilty” of causing his wife’s death during a struggle where she was attacking him with a chisel, of burying her under their house, and of “disreputable conduct”, counsel said. However, the prosecution had failed to prove an intent to kill or even cause serious injury, let alone murder.
The accused had said his wife had shown flashes of temper where she would hit him suddenly, but there was “not a scintilla of evidence” of him ever having laid a hand on her. The question was “who was controlling who”, he added.
Earlier, in her closing address, prosecuting counsel Gerardine Small said Mr Satchwell was an “arch manipulator” who wove a “web of deceit” over years about the disappearance of his wife when he “knew full well she was buried under concrete” in their home.
Even after Ms Satchwell’s remains were found, there was no “road to Damascus moment” and Mr Satchwell instead had given a “farcical” account of how she had died, one that had ”more holes than a block of Swiss cheese”.
Actions by Mr Satchwell from shortly after the time he said his wife had died, such as his email to a monkey sanctuary which suggested she was still alive, were “conniving and full of guile”, and involved creating “a digital footprint” he could avail of later, she said.
He went four days later to Fermoy Garda station, 43km away, rather than Youghal, saying he believed his wife had left him and that he was not concerned for her safety.
In a statement to gardaí in May 2017, Ms Small said, “the lies are built upon” as Mr Satchwell introduced an allegation of depression and a “short fuse” in relation to Ms Satchwell, as well as alleged violence by her towards him.
Ms Small said that right to the “bitter end”, while the forensic search of his home was under way in October 2023, he was “absolutely brazen”, and his narrative only changed after his wife’s remains were found. He then claimed he fell after his wife flew at him with a chisel and she was on top of him trying to stab him with the tool, counsel said.
Counsel said this eight-stone woman “curiously” never managed to stab this man, who was 6ft 2in, but he had said he grabbed her clothing and was holding her off because he was “terrified”.
He had given no detail of his “totally implausible account” because it was “absolutely farcical”.
The jury will be charged on Monday by Mr Justice Paul McDermott.
