MOTHER OF MURDER ACCUSED GIVES EVIDENCE AT OPENING DAY OF CITY MURDER TRIAL

Date Published: 21-Jan-2013

A woman who denies murdering her former boyfriend by stabbing him 18 times with a kitchen knife, rang Gardai seconds later telling them, "I’ve stabbed the bastard."

31 year old Maura Thornton, from Inverin, Connemara, denies the murder of 59 year old Kevin Joyce at an apartment at 183, Upper Salthill on July 31, 2011.

The murder trial, at the Central Criminal Court sitting in Galway, opened today when the mother of the accused gave evidence.

59 year old Breege Ridge Thornton told the jury she saw her daughter take a black-handled knife from a kitchen drawer and go outside the apartment in a rage to where the deceased had been standing on a flat roof looking in the kitchen window.

Mrs. Thornton’s partner, Brendan Lydon said he followed the accused outside a few seconds later and while he didn’t see her stab Joyce, he did see her standing over his still body with the knife in her hand.

The trial continues tomorrow before Mr Justice Barry White.