In the Central Criminal Court, Catherine Nevin has denied arranging her husband's murder. She also said that when she saw her husband's dead body she wished that she was dead as well. Resuming her evidence after a brief stay in hospital, Mrs Nevin denied ever telling carpet fitter Donnacha Long that her husband was a drunkard, that he was a homosexual or that she was going to do him or have him done. She said she only recalled chatting to Mr Long about the carpets he was fitting and perhaps about holidays. Mrs Nevin did claim her husband was an alcoholic, who had treatment in St John of Gods in 1992. However, she said that he was very disciplined and drank after the pub closed at night and mostly by himself.
She claimed that in the early hours of March 19 1996 she was awoken by a man pushing her face into a pillow demanding her jewellery. She claimed that the man tied her hands and legs. She eventually freed her legs and went downstairs to raise the alarm. Mrs Nevin repeatedly said: "I was terrified, absolutely terrified." I was just so terrified." Asked how she felt when told Tom Nevin was dead, Mrs Nevin said: "I just felt so sick, I was numb and I did not want to believe it." She denied arranging her husband's killing, repeating "no way, no way" in a barely audible voice. She also denied earlier evidence from staff that she had issued an instruction that no-one was to stay at Jack White's Inn on the night her husband was murdered. When she saw Mr Nevin's body the day before the funeral Mrs Nevin said that she just wished she was dead as well.
Her evidence continues tomorrow.
