The mother and father of Siobhan Kearney have given evidence at the trial of her husband, Brian, who is accused of her murder at their home in south Dublin two years ago.
Brian Kearney, 50, denies murdering his wife at Knocknashee in Goatstown in February 2006.
This afternoon her mother Deirdre McLaughlin told the Central Criminal Court that in 1999 Siobhan had been treated at the St John of God medical facility.
She said that she had suffered a breakdown and was around five days off work at the time.
Deirdire McLaughlin said that she had no doubt the breakdown occurred because she was overworked.
Mrs McLaughlin spoke about the morning her daughter, Niamh, telephoned her from Siobhan's home. She telephoned Brian Kearney and told him that something terrible had happened. He said very little during the call and arrived at the house nearly an hour later.
When he arrived at the house he told Siobhan's mother, 'we will be together forever'. The court also heard that Siobhan and Brian Kearney were experiencing marriage difficulties and that she intended leaving him.
Later Siobhan's father Eoin McLaughlin said that to his mind Brian Kearney did not show much emotion when he arrived at the house on the morning Siobhan's body was discovered; he put his head in his hands.
Niamh McLaughlin, who is Siobhan's younger sister, gave evidence earlier today.
She told how she arrived at her sister's home on the morning of 28 February 2006 to drop her car off before going to work.
She let herself in as usual and found her three-year-old nephew walking around the house alone.
She discovered the bedroom door locked and immediately called her parents at their home in Dalkey.
The court heard how Niamh heard her father kick in the bedroom door before coming down the stairs in hysterics shouting that Siobhan was dead.
She told Prosecution Counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley that when staying at the couple's hotel, 'Hotel Salvia' in Spain, she was aware there were marital difficulties.
The Kearneys bought the hotel in 2002/2003 and had developed it into a boutique-style hotel.
Circumstantial evidence 'central to case'
The Central Criminal Court was told this morning that the body of Siobhan Kearney was found in her locked bedroom by her father at 10.20am on 28 February 2006.
A vacuum cleaner flex was wrapped around her upper body and she had ligature marks around her neck.
A jury of eight women and four men was sworn in this morning for the trial, which is expected to last around four weeks.
The trial of Brian Kearney will be based substantially on circumstantial evidence, according to Prosecution Counsel Denis Vaughan Buckley.
Prosecution counsel said there would be significant evidence to dispute the claim that Siobhan Kearney could have committed suicide.
He said it was the prosecution's case that the door was locked from the outside and the key put back under it into the room.
The prosecution will argue that there was a contrived hanging over the door to the en-suite bathroom using the flex of the Dyson vacuum cleaner.
The court was told that the couple were having marriage difficulties and Siobhan had made an appointment with the local citizen's advice centre for legal advice.
