A 46-year-old man has gone on trial for the murder of his wife at their home in Co Meath just over three years ago.
Anton Mulder, with an address in Maelduinin, Dunshaughlin, denies murdering Colleen Suzanne Mulder on 17 December 2004.
Opening the case, Gerard Clarke SC told the jury it was the prosecution's case that Mr Mulder had manually strangled his wife.
The jury was told the couple originally met in South Africa.
At the time of Mrs Mulder's death, there were difficulties in the marriage. Ms Mulder was commuting between her mother's home in Bangor and Dunshaughlin.
At around 10am on the morning of 17 December 2004 the prosecution says she was strangled as she lay in her bed in her Dunshaughlin home.
The court heard that a bone in her neck was broken.
When gardaí arrived at the house over an hour later, the court heard Mr Mulder was sitting downstairs and told them 'she's upstairs'.
Mr Clarke said he did not think the jury would be unduly concerned with whether Mr Mulder was the person who had killed his wife.
He said he did not think that would be the big issue in the case.
The trial is expected to last around two weeks.
