A 36-year-old Dublin woman has been found not guilty of the murder of her husband two years ago. Caroline Comerford was told this morning that she was free to go after a jury acquitted her of the charge by a majority verdict. Mrs Comerford stabbed her husband Peter after he awoke from a drunken sleep at their home in Carrickmount Drive in Rathfarnham in August 1998. The jury took over four hours to reach a verdict.
Throughout this trial the court has heard how Caroline Comerford's husband Peter was violent when he was drunk. His teenage daughter said he was the nicest man you could ever meet but when her father was drunk he would fight - and he was drunk every day. Prosecuting lawyers described the relationship as one punctuated by violent episodes usually associated with drink.
In a statement to Gardaí Caroline Comerford said her husband was battering her with a shoe after he awoke from a drunken sleep on August the 9th in 1998. She went downstairs, picked up a steak knife and returned upstairs where she stabbed Peter. He was stabbed in the chest, back and in the legs. Caroline said in her statement that she was defending herself.
The jury was unable to reach a unanimous verdict after three and a half hours of deliberations but a half an hour later they returned with a majority verdict and found Caroline Comerford not guilty of murder.
She broke down in tears when she heard the news. Speaking to reporters after the case she said she wanted to make a new life for herself and her children.
