Gardaí who called to a murder accused's home found him hysterically shouting that he had "slit her throat, buried a knife in her head" and that this was his "fifth one", his trial has heard.
Another garda witness told the trial that he also heard the accused say: "I murdered her, I done her head in and slit her throat. I could tell you about five more too." He said the accused then lay on the ground and cried.
Trevor Rowe (29), with an address at Abbey Street, Kilkenny has pleaded not guilty to murdering 71-year-old Ann Butler at her home at Maudlin Street, Kilkenny on March 20th, 2020.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Garda Kevin Seymour told John O'Kelly SC, prosecuting, that he was in a patrol car when he got a call from the control centre on March 25th at 5.25pm. He was told that a man claiming to be God had said he murdered someone last Friday and that her body was in the second house at the back of Langtons Hotel.
Gda Seymour said because gardaí had such little information they had conducted welfare checks on Maudlin Street and nobody had any concerns for their neighbours.
Calls to control centre
The witness said he got another call from the control centre stating they had received a call from a phone belonging to a Mr Noel Pierce and the dispatcher was informed that if gardaí did not take the call seriously then there would be another murder that night.
Mr Pierce has testified that he was living at Cathedral Square in Kilkenny on March 25th, 2020 when Mr Rowe called to his house after 5.45pm without any notice. The witness said that Mr Rowe went into the toilet and used his phone.
Gda Seymour said he went to Mr Pierce's house and gardaí asked him for his mobile number, which matched one of the numbers that had rang the control centre. Mr Pierce's phone was then seized.
Hysterical
The witness said he then went to the house of Mr Rowe's mother and afterwards to the accused's address at Abbey Street.
Gda Seymour said he knocked on the door, which was ajar, and a man in the downstairs apartment told them that he shared accommodation with "some Rowe fella" upstairs.
The witness could hear shouting and banging coming from upstairs and said his colleague Garda Bernard Power entered the premises before coming out with Mr Rowe.
The garda said Mr Rowe was quite hysterical, seemed to be intoxicated, had his head bowed and was shouting: "I slit her throat, I buried a knife in her head, that's my fifth one and I can't take it".
Gda Seymour said Mr Rowe was brought to Maudlin Street. "He kept pointing at the house and broke down on the ground. We went to the house and upon opening the door a strong odour came from it," he said.
Gda Seymour said the lights were on in the hallway and in the first bedroom but not in the living room. There were blood-stains along the wall in the hall.
The witness said one of his colleagues entered the living room and stated that there was a body lying on the couch.
The trial continues this afternoon before Ms Justice Karen O'Connor and a jury of seven men and five women.
