A 36-year-old Dublin woman has pleaded not guilty in the Central Criminal Court to murdering her husband two years ago at their home in Rathfarnham. Catherine Comerford admitted stabbing her husband, Peter, during an argument in August, 1998. The trial got underway today.
In his opening statement, the prosecution counsel Kenneth Mills told the jury that Peter and Caroline Comerford had been drinking at some playing field near their home on August the 9th in 1998. They returned to their house and Peter went upstairs to sleep. After an hour or so, he roared for Caroline, who had been in the sitting room below. He attacked Caroline and she then went downstairs, chose a knife from the kitchen and went back up and stabbed him in the chest in the back and twice in the leg.
Caroline's sister, Deborah, told the court that, when she met her at the playing fields that day, there were bottles of vodka lying around and perhaps poitín. Deborah's boyfriend, Justin Carroll, said that the two of them were very drunk at the playing fields and that they brought them back to the house. When Deborah and Justin called back again in the evening, Caroline opened the door immediately and said, "I'm after stabbing him. I think he's dead".
Justin checked Peter Comerford's pulse but found none. Mr Mills had told the court earlier that Caroline and Peter's relationship was punctuated by violent episodes, usually associated with drink.
